The Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon Selective Breeding Program (SBP) operates in an environment in which there is no current high level threat of viral disease, and as such, the biosecurity level within the industry is generally low when compared to world standards. The Chilean industry has suffered from one of the greatest and most catastrophic viral outbreaks in the history of aquaculture and has since rebuilt with much greater government and industry self-regulation, leading to stringent biosecurity requirements which are monitored and enforced by government, and independent testing laboratories.

The goal of this visit was to determine which areas of biosecurity are essential to protect the Australian industry from biological threats, and how can we most effectively integrate them into our commercial systems in order to avoid the potentially catastrophic results of a viral outbreak within the Tasmanian industry.