Oyster Industry

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (14:27): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister update the house on how the state government is building the aquaculture sector by strengthening biosecurity?

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (14:27): Yes, I can. I thank the member for Flinders for his very important question. He knows probably better than most just how important biosecurity is, particularly within the aquaculture sector. What I can say is that, while I was over in Flinders just recently, we were hosted by Colleen and Jeff Holmes from SA Premium Oysters. We were over there celebrating.

An announcement had just been made on behalf of the oyster industry that $750,000 had been put to ongoing research funding to develop and further develop POMS-resistant oysters. Sadly, in 2016 we saw a decimation of spat production over in Tasmania that almost wiped out 100 per cent. There was 100 per cent mortality of the spat production in Tasmania that South Australia was so reliant on for our needs here in South Australia. We are now looking at three more years to develop Pacific oysters that are up to 90 per cent resistant to the POMS disease, Pacific oyster mortality syndrome.

That project was jointly funded between the state government and Flinders Ports, Australian Seafood Industries, the South Australian Oyster Growers Association and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. The delivery of this project will be a game changer for oysters here in South Australia. It will show the industry that the government has stood behind them to make sure that we develop a POMS-resistant oyster. That has had a significant impact right up and down the eastern seaboard but more recently, as I have said, in Tasmania.

We also need to bring a high level of protection, and that will be done through the SARDI program. It's about generating three more generations of oysters that slowly become more and more resistant. Currently, we have oyster populations that are somewhere in the vicinity of 60 per cent POMS resistant and we aim to bring that, as I said, right up to the 90 per cent number. The industry has been working with government over these issues, particularly spat production. We have also removed the need for two years of the levies and licence fees. That was something that we, as a responsible government, put into our budget.

We have also seen another threat to the industry, and that was the detection of POMS in feral oysters in the Port River only just last year. What we did as a government was we got out the hammers, jackhammers and blowtorches and we dealt with those feral oysters. It showed that the industry and government can work together. We can actually remove the threat of that virus spreading out of the Port River and into our production areas and putting the oyster industry at threat.

What I can say is that the government has recognised the issue with POMS in oysters. We have supported the industry through a very, very lean and tough period. I have been over and met with a number of oyster producers on the West Coast and Yorke Peninsula. They have done it tough, but they appreciate the work that the government is doing to support them to move forward so that we can have an industry that currently is around $28 million. We are looking to build that and grow the industry so that we can again have oysters on our dinner plates and we can again be regarded as one of the world's great oyster producers.