International Seafood & Health Conference

Craig Waldon and Grayson Hart have been given a once in a life time opportunity to represent Djarragun College at the “International Seafood & Health Conference” and “Wonders and Opportunities of our Oceans Expo” at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre 6-9 November 2010. The boys were mentored by Mr Joe Coco and the 3 were sponsored by Agri-Food Skills Australia to set up a “Training and Careers” display and coordinate and present at the Expo. This all came about because of their outstanding performance at the Australasian Aquaculture Conference in Tasmania earlier this year.

Barramundi were supplied by a local farmer Mainstream Barramundi, Silver Perch from NMIT (North Melb Institute of TAFE), albino crayfish supplied by a Diploma student from NMIT and basil and lettuce supplied from VISC (Victorian Indigenous Seafood Council). The students had to put their skills on show and demonstrate how to acclimatise the fish before putting them in the tanks and maintain the water quality to keep them happy. Basil and lettuce were also transplanted into the shallow trays and had to be monitored.

The students had the opportunity to network with highly respected national and international Aquaculture and Medical experts as well as parliamentarians. The Parliamentary secretary for Fisheries Forestry and Agriculture “The Hon Dr Mike Kelly” was interested in talking to the boys on their future careers and commented that Aquaculture has a very important future to help balance the demand of seafood to feed the country and the world. The medical experts main message was that by eating 2 fish meals per week, minimised the risk of depression and also assisted the brain development of unborn children by the absorption of micronutrients that seafood have.

It is fair to say the boys learnt an awful lot and had a lot of fun to boot!
Well done to Mr Joe Coco for looking after the boys and taking your VET course to new levels.