This unit of competency describes the skills and knowledge required to harvest cultured or held stock and transport to an on-farm or off-farm post-harvest facility. It does not include processing activities, such as gill-gutting, cleaning, filleting, cooking and shucking, the slaughter of livestock or off-facility live transport.

The unit applies to individuals who carry out routine harvesting tasks, including sorting and grading of stock, in an aquaculture setting under the direction of a supervisor.

All work must be carried out to comply with workplace procedures, according to state/territory health and safety, food safety, biosecurity and environmental regulations, legislation and standards that apply to the workplace. Licences may be required if operating load-shifting equipment, vehicles or vessels.

No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

An individual demonstrating competency must satisfy all of the elements and performance criteria in this unit.

There must be evidence that the individual has carried out harvesting of cultured or held stock on at least one occasion, including:

communicating with and reporting to supervisor on harvest activities

using the appropriate observation methods to monitor stock behaviour, water and environmental conditions for abnormal activity or negative impacts on harvest

using automated and/or manual harvest equipment and checking for serviceability of tools

safely preparing, operating and maintaining the required harvesting, transport and holding equipment

handling and harvesting stock using techniques appropriate for stock and quality standards

completing workplace harvest records

cleaning work area and storing tools and equipment post-harvest.

An individual must be able to demonstrate the knowledge required to perform the tasks outlined in the elements and performance criteria of this unit. This includes knowledge of:

basic characteristics of abnormal and normal behaviour of stock relevant to harvesting

key effects of water and environmental conditions on stock

key effects of environmental waste and effluent from harvesting activities

operation and maintenance of automatic or mechanised harvest equipment

workplace procedures for harvesting stock

workplace quality parameters and grading criteria for stock

biosecurity measures and health and safety in the context of harvesting stock, including safety measures for handling hazardous stock.

Assessment of the skills in this unit of competency must take place under the following conditions:

physical conditions:

skills must be demonstrated in an aquaculture workplace setting or an environment that accurately represents workplace conditions

resources, equipment and materials:

cultured or held stock for harvesting

culture or holding structures with/in water containing stock that exhibits a range of quality parameters

post-harvest processing facilities

data or recording sheets

specifications:

harvest schedule

workplace procedures for harvesting cultured or held stock

relationships:

evidence of interactions with supervisor.

Assessors of this unit must satisfy the requirements for assessors in applicable vocational education and training legislation, frameworks and/or standards.

This section describes those language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills that are essential for performance in this unit of competency but are not explicit in the performance criteria.

Aquaculture (AQU)