Prawn White Spot Disease Response Plan
The WSD outbreak and subsequent significant mortality events is a massive threat to the prawn aquaculture industry throughout Australia. WSD is an exotic disease, resulting in the emergency animal disease provisions being implemented by State and Commonwealth governments. The response so far is to attempt to eradicate the disease by destruction of diseased stock and implementation of quarantine arrangements. This has resulted in the loss of millions of dollars to the prawn farming industry. In addition to the prawn farmers, other industries affected include wild prawns, crabs and recreational fishers.
A coordinated response from the Australian prawn farming industry is needed to ensure Federal and State stakeholders will have the confidence to provide targeted assistance and to ensure that that efforts by all stakeholders are not duplicated and / or contradictory.
