Review of Aquaculture unit standards

FIELD AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

Review of Aquaculture unit standards

Subfield	Domain	Id
Seafood	Aquaculture	18483-18491, 19851, 20464-20467

The Seafood Industry Training Organisation has completed the review of the unit standards listed above that were registered in October 2001, February 2003, March 2003, and December 2003.

Date new versions published August 2005

New comments by date August 2009

Expiry date of new versions of the unit standards December 2010

Summary of review and consultation process

The review was initiated by the Aquaculture Advisory Group, in response to feedback from industry and workplace assessors. The review was primarily to ensure that the unit standards reflected current industry practice. A full consultation process was arranged, and a Review Working Group convened to review the unit standards and collate feedback received. The Advisory Group then consulted to ensure that the reviewed unit standards reflected the changes requested by industry. As part of this process it was agreed that unit standard 18491 be designated expiring with a short timeframe as it was considered unsafe. New unit standards for aquaculture diving had been developed.

Main changes resulting from the review

The review process has resulted in the following changes to the unit standards

· Changes have been made to titles, special notes, elements and performance criteria to reflect changes in industry practices and for consistency among the unit standards

· Unit standards 18483, 18486, 18489, and 18490 have been extended to cover any farmed fin fish species instead of only salmon

· Unit standards 18484 and 18485 have been replaced by a new unit standard 21948

· Level of unit standard 18490 has been increased from 2 to 3

· The credit value of unit standard 18486 has been increased from 3 to 5 and for unit standard 18490 from 2 to 5, to reflect actual time required

· A new unit standard, 21949, has been developed

· Unit standard 20465 has been extended to cover aquaculture species, not just freshwater farmed fish; and the credits increased from 5 to 10.

· Unit standard 18491 has been designated as expiring as new aquaculture diving unit standards 21344-21354 have been developed.

Unit standards categorised as category C expire at the end of December 2006

Unit standards categorised as category D expire at the end of December 2005

Impact on existing provider accreditations

Current Accreditation for			Accreditation extended to
Nature of accreditation	Classification or Id	Level	Nature of accreditation	Classification or Id	Level
Subfield	Seafood	2	Id	18490	3

Impact on existing qualifications

None.

Summary of main changes to standards' Ids, classification, titles, levels, and credits

The following summary shows the changes made to the standards as a result of the review. All changes are in bold.

Key to review category
A	Dates changed, but no other changes are made - the new version of the standard carries the same Id and a new version number
B	Changes made, but the overall outcome remains the same - the new version of the standard carries the same Id and a new version number
C	Major changes that necessitate the registration of a replacement standard with a new Id
D	Standard will expire and not be replaced

Subfield Seafood

Domain Aquaculture

Id	Title	Level	Credit	Review Category
18483	Describe salmon feeding Describe the feeding of farmed fin fish	3	15	B
18484 18485 21948	Use the camera/spinner system to feed salmon Use the AQ1/spinner system to feed salmon Describe automated feeding and use an automated system to feed a population of farmed fin fish	3 3 3	10 10 10	C
18486	Describe and carry out a feed stock-take on a salmon farm Describe and carry out a feed stock-take on a fin fish farm	3	3 5	B
18487	Program the AQ1 system and interpret AQPC data for salmon feeding	4	10	B
18488	Determine spinner settings and interpret feeding data for salmon feeding	4	4	B
18489	Work with nets on a salmon farm Describe net systems and undertake net changes on a fin fish farm	3	10	B
18490	Count and classify mortalities on a salmon farm Count and classify mortalities on a fin fish farm	2 3	2 5	B
18491	Dive cages on a salmon farm	3	2	D
19851	Describe the biology of a fin fish	3	5	B
20464	Prepare for and carry out spawning of broodstock for a farmed aquaculture species	3	10	B
20465	Incubate fertilised eggs for freshwater farmed fish Incubate fertilised eggs for aquaculture species	3	5 10	B
20466	Monitor and maintain the rearing of a freshwater fish species	3	10	B
20467	Harvest farmed fish	3	5	B
21344	Explain health and safety legislation and the application of best practice to aquaculture diving	4	15	New
21345	Plan and carry out a dive to search and recover a light object on a marine farm	4	10	New
21346	Plan and carry out a dive to attach a line to a heavy object on a marine farm	4	10	New
21347	Plan and carry out routine repair and maintenance diving tasks on a marine farm	4	15	New
21348	Plan and carry out dives to film, inspect or survey, and sample or collect data on a marine farm	4	10	New
21349	Plan and carry out a dive to untwist droppers on a marine farm	4	5	New
21350	Plan and carry out a dive using a diver propulsion vehicle (DPV) on a marine farm	4	5	New
21351	Plan and carry out a dive to recover mortalities using airlifts in sea cages on a marine farm	4	5	New
21352	Plan and carry out a dive to clean nets using IDEMA with SSBA on a marine farm	4	5	New
21353	Explain emergency procedures and carry out the dive attendant role for diving on a marine farm	4	5	New
21354	Supervise aquaculture industry dive operations on a marine farm	6	15	New
21949	Describe hand feeding and hand feed a population of farmed fin fish	3	10	New

Key to review category

A