Biosecurity teams have overseen the culling and disposal of prawns at a New South Wales north coast farm after detecting a highly contagious virus with the potential to severely damage the crustacean industry.
White spot is a viral infection that affects crustaceans including prawns, yabbies and crabs, causing the rapid death of up to 80% of a prawns in a farm.
An outbreak in 2016 forced the closure of four prawn farms in south-east Queensland, costing farmers and associated industries almost $400m.
The disease was confirmed at an enclosed facility by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness earlier this week.
Since the Queensland outbreak in 2016, movement restrictions were introduced to limit outbreaks of virus, the NSW agriculture minister, Dugald Saunders, said.
Saunders said the detection was made during routine testing and the infected prawns were within an enclosed facility.
The infected prawns had since been destroyed and disposed of, in an operation overseen by DPI officers.
The facility was undergoing decontamination to prevent further spread of white spot.
“As the detection is within an enclosed facility, not outside in free water, we have confidence that the protocols in place have contained this detection and we don’t believe it will spread further,” Saunders said.
“DPI is undertaking tracing and surveillance activities to try to identify the source of the white spot and how it got into NSW.”
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In 2020, Biosecurity Queensland officials again detected white spot at two prawn farms on the Logan River, in the state’s south-east. Routine testing also found the disease in wild prawns at Moreton Bay.
Queensland’s chief biosecurity officer, Malcolm Letts, said at the time it was hard to discern if the disease had re-emerged from the wild or within farms.
“We have also notified other prawn farms in the area and have reminded them to be diligent with their biosecurity protocols.”
Saunders stressed white spot does not affect humans and consumers did not need to worry about a risk to their health by eating prawns.