Stansbury Harvesting Area reopens for business

The New Year brings good news for the Stansbury Harvesting Area with the oyster growing region now reopened after being closed for 7 months  due to the detection of brevetoxins.

Routine testing by the South Australian Shellfish Quality Assurance Program (SASQAP) – a joint initiative of the State Government and the shellfish industry – has confirmed brevetoxin levels have returned to safe levels.

Located on eastern Yorke Peninsula, the Stansbury Harvesting Area was one of the first of the shellfish harvesting areas to be closed to protect public health after elevated brevetoxin levels were detected, for the first time in South Australian waters, linked to the algal bloom.

Since 1994, SASQAP has conducted a rigorous ongoing testing regime aimed at assuring consumers of commercially harvested oysters, mussels, cockles and scallops that they continue to be safe to eat. As part of this program, harvesting areas are often temporarily closed to ensure food safety standards are upheld.

The vast majority of South Australia's shellfish licences are now operating in open harvest areas unaffected by the algal bloom with their produce safe to eat.

PIRSA, through SASQAP, continues to monitor the remaining closed harvesting areas with the view to opening them as soon as the relevant food safety standards are met.

The Australian and South Australian Governments are supporting business and communities impacted by the algal bloom through the $102 million Summer Plan, which includes grants of up to $20,000 for small businesses or up to $100,000 for fisheries and aquaculture licence holders who have been unable to catch or harvest their usual catch.