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Protecting South Australia’s prawn industries from white spot disease

Tuesday 13 September 2022

A precautionary but mandatory ban on the import of crustaceans has been extended to include bait prawns, worms and berley from NSW and the NT in an effort to reduce the risk of this devasting disease to South Australia.


This extension of the ban follows a recent detection from routine testing of white spot disease (WSD) in black tiger prawns within a biosecure facility at a prawn farm on the NSW north coast.

The inclusion of NT in the new restrictions is a precautionary measure due to broodstock from both NSW and NT being located at the facility. The new restrictions are in place while further investigations and surveillance are conducted by authorities.

The previous import restrictions against WSD were first implemented in December 2016 due to an initial detection of the disease on a number of prawn farms in the Logan River and Moreton Bay areas of south east Queensland.

In addition to the new restrictions on the import of bait prawns and worms from NSW and NT, the import ban on the importation of uncooked prawns from the Logan River and Moreton Bay (WSD control area) region remains in place.

Any decapod crustaceans (including prawns) coming in from the Logan River/Moreton Bay WSD control area must either be cooked or suitably irradiated prior to entering South Australia. Live high-value decapods such as crabs (e.g. mud crabs), crayfish, lobster and Moreton Bay bugs are recognised as being of low risk and are permitted subject to strict conditions.

WSD is a highly contagious viral infection that affects crustaceans – in prawn farm operations it can result in 100% mortality within days of the first visible signs of the disease.

The disease has never been detected in South Australia and the state is therefore considered WSD free but should the disease ever be detected in our waters, it would pose a serious threat to the state’s freshwater and marine crustaceans.

There are no human health issues associated with the virus that causes WSD.

See white spot disease for more information and the latest restrictions.

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