Establishment of an agribusiness model for assessing the commercial viability of new species for aquaculture

This thesis develops a process for selecting and assessing the commercial viability of potential new aquaculture species. Currently a lack of understanding exists between science and business in the differing roles each discipline plays. The present study makes a nexus between the two and establishes a structured process for selecting a new aquaculture species that includes all stakeholders. To achieve this, the concept of agribusiness is applied to the science of aquaculture and both are disciplined by the new product development approach adapted from mainstream industry. The research instrument, a (qualitative) questionnaire was constructed from aquaculture, agribusiness and new product development literature, approaching new species development as new product development. Three transparent and successful finfish aquaculture industries; channel catfish in the United States, Atlantic salmon in Tasmania and barramundi in northern Australia were selected as benchmarks and surveyed. The survey measured industry success and sought industry participant's views on the attributes needed by a new species and its agribusiness value chain to deliver a profitable and sustained performance in the marketplace. The present study found that top ranking success criteria were common across the benchmark industries, diverging as the criteria lessened in ranking. The two most important criteria were market acceptance and ease of farming. A species with high market appeal may be unsuitable for farming, and conversely, a species well suited to farming may lack market demand. Therefore the most popular species are not always ideal for aquaculture, but rather species for which technology can be developed and are compatible with the agribusiness system, sometimes making selection and development a compromise. The present study also found that the results enabled construction of a Master Model for assessing new species currently under culture and made predictions about the potential for snapper, striped trumpeter, yellowtail kingfish and King George whiting in Australia. It also developed a Process Model to show the developer obstacles inherent in the pathway to fish species domestication and the species compatibility with the agribusiness system. This begins at the stage of new species idea generation and ends with retail consumption of the fish. The specific contribution to finfish aquaculture is developing a method to select a candidate species and predict its likelihood of success using a structured process. This process considers agribusiness, science and new product development factors, something that has not been not previously attempted.