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The federal government is under fire, accused of failing Australian prawn farmers who warn it is a matter of "not if but when" more devastating crustacean diseases enter the country, potentially spreading to lobsters.
Key points:
- The prawn import biosecurity review was initiated seven years ago
- White spot disease devastated farms after entering the country in imported prawns
- Prawn farmers claim the review does not protect against new exotic diseases
Seven years after it was initiated, the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) released the long-awaited final report to review the biosecurity risks of imported prawns and prawn products.
Australian Prawn Farm Association executive officer Kim Hooper said the industry's greatest fears had been realised.
Unlike biosecurity measures for most imported beef, chicken and pork, imported prawns will still be able to enter the country uncooked — and will not be tested for several serious emerging diseases.
"It just feels like we're being thrown under a bus. It's incredible," Ms Hooper said.
"Trade shouldn't trump biosecurity.
"We're not against imports; you could still import, but it's the same as with chicken, beef, and pork. You actually just need to either cook it or enforce higher standards for testing."
The DAFF report recommended changes, including requiring all imported prawns and prawn products to be frozen.
Whole uncooked prawns would only be allowed in if countries or zones were officially assessed as being free from 10 serious pathogenic threats to Australia, including the highly infectious white spot virus (WSSV), which sparked the biosecurity review.
WSSV poses no threat to human health and safety but has devastated prawn farms on the Logan River since it entered the country in 2016, costing more than 100 million dollars.
In 2017, Australia's Inspector-General of Biosecurity, Helen Scott-Orr, said the source of infection was suspected to be imported uncooked prawns used as bait by fishers in the Logan River.
A different genetic variant of WSSV has since forced three prawn farms in New South Wales Clarence Estuary to euthanise their stock.
The import review found head and shell removal, de-veining, pre-export and on-arrival testing for white spot syndrome virus and yellow head virus genotype 1 were still considered necessary to manage the biosecurity risks of uncooked prawns.
"Breaded, battered, and crumbed prawns must still have undergone a par-cooking step, and highly processed prawn must still be imported as part of a product such as a dumpling or spring roll," the report read.
"Australia has finalised this review in line with our international rights and obligations and supported by risk assessments."
Scientific concerns
"Sadly, we have played this game before and lost," warned aquatic veterinarian Matt Landos.
"It was never safe to bring uncooked prawns into Australia due to the pathogens that they carry and the fact that we have no control of the release of those products into the environment by their use as bait or burley by recreational anglers."
"This is a grave disappointment that the Commonwealth is continuing to choose to sacrifice the seafood industries of Australia for trade issues rather than follow the science and protect our seafood industries from the importation of further diseases."
"Certainly, I know that the beef industry would not stand for this level of risk, this level of laxity in the system that might allow a serious virus into their industry," Dr Landos said.
"And in the case of aquatic viruses and pathogens, we know that we have little hope of actually eradicating them once they're here, they get out into the environment, and we have no ability to control where they go."
In 2020-21 $422 million of prawns were imported into Australia.
Of the 38,000 tonnes of prawns and prawn products that came into the country last financial year, the largest volumes were from Vietnam, Thailand and China, where farmers are battling disease.
The DAFF report said prawn imports helped meet domestic demand and offered a range of benefits such as competitive pricing, a greater variety of products and product availability during seasonal shortfalls.
"If Australia decided to ban food imports from other countries without scientific proof, not only would we deny Australian consumers the right to choose, but other countries would have the right to ban Australian exports," the statement read.
"This would have serious consequences for our farmers and producers, the broader economy and all Australians."
Ms Hooper said that the value of Australia's booming prawn production was just under $200 million last financial year, up from $80 million just three years ago.
In 2020-21 8,700 tonnes of prawns were produced, compared to 4,630 tonnes in 2018-2019.
"It's a homegrown product. It's fresh and of great quality. We don't use any chemicals as they use overseas. It's environmentally friendly; this is what we need to protect."
Double standards
While raw prawns will still be allowed to be imported, state government movement restrictions prevent prawn farmers and wild-caught fishers from transporting uncooked prawns, yabbies and marine worms outside white spot control zones where white spot disease continues to spread.
"As we see warmer currents going down south, what's to stop this from getting into the lobster industry," Ms Hooper asked.
"It's a double standard. It really doesn't make any sense at all," Ms Hooper said.
The Australian government said it would support measures other than cooking for the movement of domestic product within Australia, providing the measures were equivalent to those at the border.
Aquatic Animal Health specialist Ben Diggles said he spent much of the last year overseas in countries like Vietnam, dealing with biosecurity issues related to diseases in prawn farms.
"This import review process has taken seven years.
"It's so slow and reactive it's showing the government can't respond to new diseases that are emerging, let alone deal with ones we've already got," Dr Diggles said.
"Luck is not supposed to be a biosecurity strategy but that is what the federal government is relying on."
Dr Diggles expressed frustration that the government was not routinely testing imports for new diseases and parasites like EHP (Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei), found in supermarket prawns in Australia.
"EHP doesn't necessarily kill the prawns but slows down their growth so much that in the end, it becomes uneconomical for the farmers to farm."
Dr Diggles said that like the white spot virus, which has a very broad host range and could infect a wide range of crustaceans, including prawns, crabs and lobsters, another pathogen called Div 1 (decapod iridescent virus 1) posed similar risks and was not being tested for at the border.
"Div 1 seems to have quite a similar host range, so. Therefore, we would expect Div 1 could be able to enter Australia in the same way we think white spot was brought into Australia, which is recreational fishermen using supermarket prawns for bait."
Dr Diggles said Australia's competitive edge relied on its clean green disease-free status.
"Not having adequate biosecurity at the international border just continues to erode prawn farmers' capacity for us to provide for Australians.
"The endgame is we'll end up having to rely more on imports because our biosecurity standards are not adequate to protect us from the diseases that we know are out there."
The ABC asked to speak to Agriculture minister Murray Watt or a representative from the department and was sent a statement from DAFF.
"Australia applies its appropriate level of protection (ALOP) in a consistent way across aquatic animal, terrestrial animal, and plant products," the statement said.
"As unique risk factors, consequences and scenarios apply to each product. Those risks are managed in different ways to ensure that Australia's ALOP is met.
"That means different import conditions may apply for different commodity types," the statement said.
Only a small proportion of imported prawn container loads are tested.
Between July 1, 2022, to May 12, 2023, 842 consignments of uncooked prawns were imported, 11 of which tested positive for white spot disease on arrival and were either re-exported or destroyed.
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