The aquaculture management and policy group aim to support and develop environmentally sustainable and profitable aquaculture industries. In NSW, the aquaculture industry is dominated by Sydney rock oyster cultivation, but interest in farming finfish, pearls, crustacean and other molluscs is increasing. Some of the key current programs are: Sustainable Aquaculture Strategies, developing a Hatchery Quality Assurance Plan, managing the impacts on the oyster farming industry from QX oyster disease, promoting the use of alternatives to treated timber in the oyster industry such as recyclable HDPE plastics and promoting the protection of estuarine water quality.

The NSW government has prepared Sustainable Aquaculture Strategies for land-based and edible oyster aquaculture. The strategies include identification of appropriate aquaculture sites and a simplified approvals process. Sustainable Aquaculture Strategies include best practice guidelines based on Environmentally Sustainable Development principals. The strategies address issues such as business planning, species selection, site selection, planning and design and water quality guidelines. There are currently two land regions covered by Sustainable Aquaculture Strategies; the North Coast and Hunter and Central Coast. A whole of state land-based strategy will replace these regional strategies in 2008. This state-wide strategy will also address extensive aquaculture (eg. yabbies in an irrigation storage). The NSW Oyster Industry Sustainable Aquaculture Strategy covers all edible oyster growing estuaries in NSW. It identifies priority oyster aquaculture areas for oyster farming in estuaries and incorporates the agreed water quality needs of the oyster industry in formal environmental planning legislation.

Aquaculture Administrative Services

The Aquaculture Administration provides a range of administrative services, including:

• processing lease and permit applications and managing financial accounts relating to aquaculture permit holders and lessees in NSW 
• maintaining GIS lease plans for oyster, marine fish and mussel farms 
• managing the annual aquaculture production-reporting program and publication 
• providing case management and extension services 
• processing miscellaneous permit applications which authorise activities for purposes such as aquaculture, research and aquarium collection