South Perth-based lobster exporter Cervantes Seafood Ltd has launched an abalone breeding program in conjunction with Curtin University's Muresk Institute of Agriculture, the company has announced.
The full text of a company announcement is pasted below
Cervantes Seafood Limited (ASX: CVS), in conjunction with Curtin University of Technology, has launched a unique abalone breeding program designed to develop a fast-growing hybrid abalone specifically suited to west coast
cultivation.
The program will be developed at Curtin's Muresk Institute in Northam, Western Australia and will incorporate the cross-breeding of greenlip and scalaris abalone, which is a fast growing west coast species.
Cervantes Director Robert Grover said: "The new hybrid abalone is expected to have superior growth rates and be better suited to warmer west coast waters, lowering production costs and increasing commercial potential.
"Previous cross-breeding of greenlip and brownlip species has led to a 30% increase in growth rates and we expect similar if not better results from this program."
Construction of a hatchery and nursery for the new hybrid has already started at Muresk's Aquatic Research Laboratories and, if successful, the Company expects its first commercial sales to begin in mid 2008.
"The new breeds of west coast hybrid abalone are proving superior to the species currently being cultivated on Australia's south coast, opening the possibility for a premium WA product to be sold to the major international markets such as China and Japan," Mr Grover said.
