The South Australian Government has implemented a ban on importing raw crustaceans and bait worms sourced from the Logan River area in south-east Queensland, following the detection of White Spot Disease (WSD) in Queensland.

The disease is not present in South Australia and the state's premium wild caught prawns remain disease free, however the ban has been implemented as precautionary measure.

WSD poses a serious threat to South Australia's recreational and commercial freshwater and marine crustaceans if introduced and the import ban is a vital biosecurity precaution to protect the state's $468 million commercial and recreational fisheries and aquaculture industries from any disease risk.

The ban prevents movement of all live or dead uncooked prawns, shrimps, crabs, yabbies and bristle worms from the affected area into South Australia.

Bait and berley suppliers in South Australia have been advised of the import ban and ordered to remove any stock identified from the Logan River area, from sale.

Recreational fishers who may have purchased imported bait supplies since 1 November are asked to check its origin and dispose of any bait sourced from the infected area into landfill or at quarantine stations across South Australia.

Quotes attributable to PIRSA Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Roger Paskin

The import ban is a vital biosecurity measure to protect South Australia's seafood industry from any disease risk.

Recreational fishers can protect stock by not using food grade crustaceans, including leftover, uncooked Christmas seafood such as prawn heads, shells or meat, as berley in South Australian waters.

If you catch your own bait, use it only in the water from where it came. Never release live bait into waters other than where it was originally caught.

Background

White Spot Prawn Disease has been confirmed on a number prawn farms in South East Queensland and has also been detected in a small number of wild prawns in the Logan River.

The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is responding to the detection as per a nationally agreed biosecurity protocols with the aim of eradicating the disease.

More information at: www.outbreak.gov.au and www.pir.sa.gov.au/whitespotdisease.

http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/alerts_news_events/news/biosecurity/aquatics/ban_on_importing_raw_crustaceans_from_south-east_queensland