Researchers are claiming a world-first aquaculture breakthrough in Tasmania that could reshape the rock lobster industry.

Hobart's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies has developed a hatchery process that until now, has been impossible, due to the lobster's complex larval cycle.

University of Tasmania Associate Professor Greg Smith is the director of the research program, and likened the advances to finding one of the "holy grails of aquaculture".

"It's very exciting ... because it's basically one of the holy grails of aquaculture because it is such a long and difficult larval cycle," he said.

"Since the 1980s, people have been able to rear very small numbers of rock lobsters, but it's been on the scale of being able to do it in a beaker, and using various things like antibiotics.

"The breakthroughs that we've made are around water treatments, we don't use any antibiotics at all."

Dr Fitzgibbon believes the research will have significance for climate change study. ( ABC News: Emilie Gramenz )

Senior research fellow Quinn Fitzgibbon said the opportunities for science were also exciting.

"Being able to culture these animals in a laboratory now opens up to science their understanding of the larval stages," he said.

"We really don't understand these animals because they live so far out to sea... having them in the laboratory, we can better understand their ecology and the effect of things like climate change."

He had been working on scientific projects with rock lobster for over 15 years.

"It's got great commercial and environmental potential. This potentially can have a big effect on the lobster fisheries going forward," he said.

Major barrier to farming in last larval stage

Professor Smith said the creature's life-cycle was very long and they were hard to breed.

The researchers have tackled critical issues with lobster growth at the larval stage. ( ABC News: Emilie Gramenz )

He said it was the last larval stage, called the metamorphosis, that was the most challenging part of the breeding process.

"During that stage, they go from essentially a two-dimensional animal into something that actually looks like a lobster," he said.

"It takes about 10 or 15 minutes and it completely changes the look of the animal.

"If anything's not right, that's when you see the problem."

'Breakthrough' opens way to sustainable industry: researchers

Professor Smith said the research had created an aquaculture system that made it possible to establish a new commercial industry for sustainable rock lobster production.

"This world-leading science, developed from over 17 years of lobster research, has significantly reduced disease, shortened larval duration, and overcome long-standing density and metamorphosis challenges," he said.

Professor Smith said lobsters were farmed in Indonesia, but they were stocked by taking young lobsters from the sea.

He said he did not think farmed lobsters would be significantly cheaper, but would make it easier to meet world demand sustainably.

The research will allow the stocking of farms with juveniles bred in captivity. ( ABC News: Emilie Gramenz )

University wants to start commercial trials

The program is now looking to partner with Australian companies to properly trial the system commercially.

"We have demonstrated our hatchery process at our research facility in Taroona in mass-rearing tanks, which can annually produce tens of thousands of juveniles suitable for stocking commercial grow-out facilities," Professor Smith said.

The University of Tasmania is the exclusive licensee for the technology in Australia.

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), Professor Brigid Heywood said the breakthrough could be beneficial for other species and industries.

"It also opens the door for other species that can benefit from our advances in hatchery systems design, nutrition and disease control," she said.

The research was jointly funded by the Australian Research Council.