Anindilyakwa Land Council aquaculture coordinator Dr Valentin Thépot has been awarded a federal government science prize for developing a seaweed feed supplement that aims to an boost immunity and growth in farmed prawns that will also be trialed on the Ornate rock lobsters for use on Groote Eylandt.

The project could improve aquaculture animal health, and profits, while reducing reliance on other feed ingredients, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation managing director Dr Patrick Hone said when presenting the Fishing and Aquaculture Award last week at the virtual ABARES Outlook 2022 conference.

Dr Thépot says he started with 11 different species of seaweed, before finding the red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis offered the greatest benefits to the fish.

He said he wants to see if Asparagopsis, a supplement used for fish, has a similar effect on Tiger prawns, as well as other farmed species, such as Ornate rock lobster, and sea cucumbers. It is the first time it will be used on crustations.

Dr Thépot says disease outbreaks are one of the biggest threats to sustainable aquaculture, costing the industry more than $8 billion a year.

“It usually claims about 10 per cent of the seafood that is produced in aquaculture,” he said.

“Australia is free of many diseases that are crippling prawn farms overseas, however, the outbreak of incurable white spot syndrome virus in Queensland shows we need solutions for disease management and prawn welfare that don’t compromise productivity.

“Because pathogens are increasingly resistant to antibiotics, we need to look for alternative prevention and treatment methods for these outbreaks.

“Being able to solve that through an organic way, using natural seaweed supplements, is quite an attractive solution.”

Dr Thépot said his research showed that adding seaweed to the diet of Atlantic salmon and rabbitfish improved the fishes’ immune response by 400 per cent and growth by 19 per cent.

He said the project will also investigate the financial benefits from productivity improvements, with a tiger prawn trial run at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

There will also be concurrent trials on the Ornate rock lobster, a candidate for growing in the NT, specifically for the Anindilyakwa community on Groote Eylandt, he added.

Dr Thépot has worked for 13 years in the aquaculture sector and is a researcher at the University of the Sunshine Coast and the aquaculture coordinator for the ALC.

He grew up in France, splitting his childhood between his family’s dairy farm and the ocean. And discovered aquaculture after moving to Queensland, and previously worked in a commercial barramundi hatchery.