Susanna Freymark
Large traces of white spot virus were detected in wild-caught school prawns south of Ballina yesterday, Wednesday, May 8.
State MP Richie Williamson said it is a further blow to the commercial fishing industry across the region with Clarence River estuary fishers already impacted by a two-year biosecurity lockdown.
The discovery of the white spot virus came from routine batch testing of wild-caught school prawns from the inshore ocean area south of Ballina off the Richmond River by the NSW Department of Primary Industries, not from a prawn farm as was the case in the Clarence.
“This is alarming as it is the first confirmed detection of white spot in wild school prawns in NSW directly collected from ocean waters, not associated with a white spot outbreak. It has the potential to wipe-out our local prawn industry,” Mr Williamson said.
He wants the State Government to provide a support package to commercial fishers in the Ballina and Evans Head regions.
The government responded too slowly to the plight of Clarence commercial fishers who were on their knees last year, so it needs to act more swiftly this time around, Mr Williamson said
“It is also time for the Federal Government to get serious about biosecurity measures in place to protect our shores from imported prawns.”
Mr Williamson said he understood a new control zone would be established to cover the Richmond and Wilsons rivers, and ocean waters outside the mouth of the Richmond River.
This will restrict the movement of green (uncooked) school and king prawns and other decapod crustaceans to minimise risks of spread while further testing and investigations take place to determine if it is related to previous detections in Queensland and NSW, he said.
White Spot devastated the prawn industry in southeast Queensland in 2016-17 and while it is not harmful to humans it can decimate prawn populations.
There were also detections at prawn farms in the Clarence River in 2023.
Federal Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Murray Watt said the government has told the Aquatic Consultative Committee for Emergency Animal Diseases led by Australian chief vet Beth Cookson, to consider the detection, assess the situation, conduct further testing and formulate an appropriate response.
The infected prawns were collected in an area offshore from the mouth of the Richmond River near Ballina and further surveillance has come back negative.
Under the Federal Government’s Sustainable Biosecurity Funding Model producers are being asked to contribute a modest 6% of the total cost of biosecurity, with taxpayers and importers funding 92%.
Mr Watt said this was a small request on farmers, to assist protect their livelihoods from billions of dollars in potential biosecurity losses.
“In practical terms, we are asking a banana farmer to pay one tenth of a cent per kilogram of bananas, to protect their farms from Panama disease and other pests.
“A cattle farmer would pay around 50 cents on a head of cattle worth around $2,500, to protect their livelihoods from foot and mouth disease.
“With taxpayers chipping in hundreds of millions of dollars each year for biosecurity, this is not a lot to ask farmers to contribute, considering what’s at stake.”
Examples of the average cost of the Biosecurity Protection Levy on various industries are:
0.3 of a cent per litre of milk
0.1 of a cent per kg of tomatoes
0.1 of a cent per kg of bananas
7 cents for every $100 of wheat
cent for every $60 of cotton sold
cent for every $46 of cattle sold
1/4 cent per chicken
2.7 cents per tonne of sugar
1.2 cents per kg of farmed prawns
1.4 cents per kg of berries
