Effective date: 22 July 2026 Version: 2.0
1. About these Guidelines
AquaNetica is a professional network for the aquaculture and blue economy sector. These Community Guidelines set out how we expect members to behave in the community feed, groups, comments, messages, reviews, events and any other space where members interact.
In these Guidelines, “AquaNetica”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean AquaNetica Pty Ltd of Level 4, 114 William Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia. “You” and “your” mean you and, where you act for a business, that business and its personnel and authorised users. “Community Spaces” means the community feed, groups, forums, comments, direct messages, reviews, event discussions and any other member-facing space we operate.
These Guidelines form part of our Terms of Service and are binding on you. Where these Guidelines and the Terms of Service conflict, the Terms of Service prevail. Words defined in the Terms of Service have the same meaning here.
2. Who this community is for
AquaNetica is built for people working in or with the aquaculture and blue economy sector: farmers and operators, hatchery and technical staff, engineers, consultants, veterinarians and scientists, suppliers and manufacturers, buyers, investors, students and regulators.
Accounts are for individuals. You must use your real name and an accurate description of who you work for and what you do. You must not create an account for a fictitious person, operate an account on behalf of someone else without disclosing it, or maintain multiple accounts to evade a restriction or to amplify your own posts.
3. The standard we expect
The value of this community is that experienced people are willing to share what they know. That only continues if the space stays useful and safe to speak in.
You agree to:
(a) treat other members professionally, including when you disagree with them;
(b) contribute in good faith, and stay on topic in the space you are posting in;
(c) be accurate about your experience, qualifications, employment and any commercial interest you hold;
(d) respect that many members are competitors, and that commercially sensitive information shared here is shared voluntarily; and
(e) accept moderation decisions and raise any concern with us directly rather than in the feed.
4. What is not allowed
You must not post, share, send or upload content that:
(a) is unlawful, fraudulent, deceptive or misleading;
(b) harasses, bullies, threatens, intimidates or targets any person, including through repeated unwanted contact;
(c) is defamatory, or makes an unsubstantiated allegation about an identifiable person or business;
(d) is hateful, discriminatory or degrading on the basis of race, colour, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability or any other protected attribute;
(e) is obscene, sexually explicit, gratuitously violent or otherwise unsuitable for a professional setting;
(f) encourages or instructs animal cruelty, or the mistreatment or unlawful destruction of stock;
(g) promotes or facilitates a breach of biosecurity requirements, quarantine conditions, import or export controls, fisheries law, environmental law or any permit condition;
(h) offers, seeks or describes how to obtain restricted veterinary chemicals, antimicrobials, therapeutants or other regulated substances outside lawful channels;
(i) infringes the intellectual property, privacy or confidentiality rights of any person;
(j) contains malware, phishing links or anything designed to compromise a person or system; or
(k) breaches our Terms of Service or any applicable law.
We may remove content and restrict, suspend or terminate an account for a breach of this clause, consistent with clause 12.
5. Commercial activity and self-promotion
We are a network with a marketplace, a job board and paid supplier features, so commercial activity is welcome in the places built for it. Community Spaces are not those places.
5.1 You must not use Community Spaces for unsolicited sales messages, bulk or repetitive promotional posts, cold outreach by direct message, lead scraping, or recruiting members away from the platform.
5.2 You may talk about your own products, services or business where it genuinely answers the question being asked, where it is relevant to the discussion, and where you clearly disclose your interest in the same post. “I work for the manufacturer” is enough. Burying it, or omitting it, is not.
5.3 You must disclose any commercial relationship that a reasonable member would want to know about when you recommend a product, supplier or service, including where you are a distributor, agent, reseller or consultant to that supplier, or where you receive a commission, referral fee, discount or other benefit.
5.4 You must not post a review, rating, testimonial or comment about your own business, a competitor’s business, or a business you are connected to, in a way that misrepresents your independence. Incentivised or paid reviews that are not disclosed are prohibited.
5.5 Product listings, job advertisements and supplier promotion belong in the Marketplace and Job Board, subject to their own terms. Do not reproduce them in the feed.
6. Technical information, advice and animal health
6.1 Content posted by members is the opinion and experience of the member who posted it. It is not our advice, we do not verify it, and we do not endorse it.
6.2 Nothing posted in Community Spaces is veterinary, animal health, biosecurity, engineering, water chemistry, environmental, scientific, financial or legal advice. It is not a substitute for a suitably qualified professional who has assessed your specific site, stock and conditions.
6.3 If you share a figure, dose, parameter, protocol or method, share the context with it. Species, life stage, system type, water chemistry, temperature and scale change the answer, and a number without its context is more dangerous than no number.
6.4 You must not diagnose disease in another member’s stock, or direct another member to administer a veterinary chemical, antimicrobial or therapeutant. Point them to a veterinarian or the relevant authority instead.
6.5 Do not use Community Spaces in an emergency, or for any decision affecting animal health and welfare, worker safety, biosecurity or regulatory compliance, without obtaining qualified professional advice.
6.6 Before you act on anything you read here, verify it independently. You are responsible for the decisions you make.
7. Confidential and third party information
7.1 Do not post information that you are not free to share. This includes information belonging to your employer, your clients, your suppliers or another member, and anything covered by a confidentiality agreement, a commercial-in-confidence arrangement or a tender process.
7.2 Do not post engineering drawings, specifications, designs, test results, pricing or contracts belonging to a third party without their permission. If you post them, you represent that you have the right to.
7.3 Do not post another person’s personal information, including their contact details, location, employment details or images, without their consent. Do not collect, compile or export other members’ personal information for any purpose.
7.4 Do not share another member’s private messages, or content from a private group, outside that space.
7.5 Do not post the location, layout, security arrangements or biosecurity vulnerabilities of a facility that is not yours.
8. Artificial intelligence and generated content
8.1 You may use AI tools, including AquaNetica IQ, to help you draft a post. You remain responsible for anything you post, including its accuracy.
8.2 Do not present AI-generated content as your own first-hand experience, test result, measurement or professional opinion.
8.3 Do not post AI-generated text, images or data in a way that is likely to mislead members about its origin, or to fabricate a case study, result, credential or endorsement.
8.4 AquaNetica IQ outputs are governed by the AquaNetica IQ AI Assistant Terms. If you share an output in Community Spaces, say that it came from an AI assistant.
9. Your content and our licence
9.1 You keep ownership of what you post. By posting in Community Spaces you grant us the licence described in clause 6 of our Terms of Service.
9.2 You represent that you own or have the rights to what you post, and that it does not breach these Guidelines, any third party right or any law.
9.3 Deleting a post removes it from the community, but does not necessarily remove copies other members have taken, quoted or stored, or copies held in our backups. Treat anything you post as public within the community.
10. Reporting
If you see something that breaches these Guidelines, report it using the report function or email info@aquanetica.com. Tell us what you saw and where.
Report urgent safety, animal welfare or biosecurity concerns to the relevant authority as well as to us. We are a platform, not a regulator, and we cannot act in place of one.
We will not retaliate against a member for making a good faith report, and we will not disclose who reported a post to the member who is reported, unless we are required to by law.
11. How we moderate
11.1 We do not pre-screen content. We may, but are not obliged to, monitor, review, moderate, edit, remove, restrict or reinstate content at our discretion.
11.2 We will apply these Guidelines reasonably and proportionately, taking into account the seriousness of the breach, whether it was deliberate, whether it caused harm, and your history on the platform.
11.3 Moderation is not a judgment about you personally, and removing a post is not a finding that you broke the law.
11.4 We may remove content that does not breach these Guidelines where we reasonably consider it necessary to protect members, the platform or a third party, or where we are required to by law.
12. Enforcement
Depending on the seriousness and history of a breach, we may:
(a) remove or restrict the visibility of content;
(b) issue a warning;
(c) limit your ability to post, comment, message or use particular features;
(d) suspend your account, with or without notice;
(e) terminate your account and refuse re-registration;
(f) remove listings, job posts or supplier privileges; or
(g) report the matter to a regulator or law enforcement where we reasonably consider it appropriate or where required by law.
We will give you notice and an opportunity to respond where practical, unless we reasonably consider that urgent action is needed or that the breach is serious. Suspension or termination for a breach of these Guidelines does not entitle you to a refund, except where the Australian Consumer Law or another law requires otherwise.
13. Appeals
If you believe a moderation decision was wrong, email info@aquanetica.com within 30 days with the details. We will review the decision and respond within a reasonable period. Our decision on review is final, and nothing in this clause affects any right you have under the Australian Consumer Law or to make a complaint to a regulator.
14. Changes
We may update these Guidelines from time to time. If we make material changes we will give you reasonable notice, for example by posting a notice on the platform or emailing you. Changes take effect from the stated effective date, and by continuing to use Community Spaces after that date you accept the updated Guidelines.
15. Contact
AquaNetica Pty Ltd Level 4, 114 William Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia Community and moderation: info@aquanetica.com Legal: info@aquanetica.com
