Clarence MP Richie Williamson urges government to address white spot disease affecting North Coast producers

A new northern NSW MP has called for the government to make changes to the importation of prawns to help stop the spread of a disease crippling the industry. Here’s the latest on the outbreak.

A prawn with white spot disease. Picture: Liam Kidston.

The Clarence seafood industry has been crippled by a white spot virus outbreak and a chorus of local voices are calling for an end to the importation of uncooked green prawns.

In one of his first addresses to state parliament, newly elected Clarence MP Richie Williamson called on the government to do more to help stop the spread of the devastating crustaceans disease.

“For the life of me, I cannot understand why any government would let uncooked green prawns into this country,” he said.

Mr Williamson said the Clarence River Fishermen’s Cooperative had not been eligible for any grants to assist despite the ravages of fires, floods – and now the disease and biosecurity control orders.

“The industry is in crisis and needs the full support of the NSW state government and the Albanese Federal Government combined,” he said.

“There are lives well and truly at stake. This is a matter of urgency.”

North Coast Minister Rose Jackson, who is based in Sydney, was contacted for comment, but declined, while Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty did not respond to a request for comment.

Clarence MP Richie Williamson.

Mr Williamson said he believed the first step should be to offer relief by way of a waiver on Crown lease fees, a policy lever that has been used previously.

His speech follows professional anglers across the lower Clarence being left without a source of income after the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) found the contagious viral crustacean infection in two Palmers Island prawn farms in February.

The fishing boat of a lower Clarence fishermen has been left docked since the first outbreak.

The DPI confirmed a third outbreak of the white spot virus at a Yamba prawn farm on April 21.

A control order has been issued, crippling the local fishing industry and prompting fears of widespread job losses, as the DPI moves to prevent the infection spreading.

While white spot does not pose a risk to people it can rip through a prawn farm in a few days and poses a serious threat to freshwater and marine crustaceans in both farmed and wild fisheries, including crabs, lobster and yabbies.

A prawn infected with white spot disease.

The disease was first detected in Australia at prawn farms on the Logan River in southeast Queensland in late 2016 and in wild populations in Moreton Bay in 2017, according to the Department of Primary Industries.

It is spread by the movement of contaminated bait and fishing gear.

This new control order has restricted the movement of raw prawns out of an area dubbed the Clarence River Control Zone, covering the Clarence Estuary.

Clarence River Control Zone (in red). Source: NSW DPI.

Professional Fisheries Association CEO Tricia Beatty echoed Mr Williamson and called on the Australian government to compensate impacted prawn farmers because of its “mismanagement of biosecurity”.

“This is a biosecurity issue that has created significant impact on the Australian seafood industry,” she said.

“The Australian government’s allowance of imported green prawns into this country continuously puts our industry and our waterway ecosystems at risk.

“(The government) needs to implement a ban on imported green prawns to help mitigate the significant risks exposure to overseas diseases and viruses pose to our Australian fisheries.”

In a statement, a NSW DPI spokeswoman said the department had finalised testing and surveillance for white spot in northern NSW for this season, but were still investigating the cause of the outbreak.

“(The) DPI is finalising source investigations to determine if there is a link between uncooked green prawns and the recent Clarence Valley white spot outbreak. This will inform any ongoing control measures,” she said.

“To minimise spread, NSW DPI is working with the three affected farms to manage the detection and minimise risk of spread.

“Decontamination on the farms is currently underway.”

The DPI has appointed a recovery co-ordinator, who will “continue to focus on assisting industry to enhance biosecurity measures to minimise the risk of the spread of white spot”.