Abalone Viral Ganglioneuritis

The Hon. M. EL DANNAWI (15:13): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Will the minister update the chamber about the transition to management of the AVG outbreak in the South-East?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:13): I thank the honourable member for her question. Those who have been following the issue would be aware that abalone viral ganglioneuritis (AVG) has been a particular concern in the South-East. It is something that we haven't previously had in South Australia and that was something, of course, we would have hoped to continue, but on 23 February AVG was confirmed in wild abalone in water south of Port MacDonnell.

Abalone herpes virus is the disease that causes AVG and is a notifiable disease under the Livestock Act 1997. It affects the abalone nervous system, causing various symptoms, including weakness and, in some cases, death. AVG has the potential to severely impact local abalone stocks and reef ecosystems, with up to 90 per cent mortality reported in some instances.

It is important to note that there are no human health concerns associated with AVG, nor are there any food safety issues. AVG is known to occur elsewhere in Australia, including in Victoria and Tasmania. While AVG has never previously been detected in South Australia, its origins are unknown.

PIRSA supports aquatic animal health through surveillance, education and disease risk management. For emergency animal diseases such as AVG, this is achieved by collaborative efforts from the fisheries and aquaculture and biosecurity divisions in partnership with the affected industries. On 23 February 2024, PIRSA activated an incident management team (IMT), and initial control measures to contain the spread of the disease through human activity in the South-East were put in place. This was on the day that AVG was confirmed.

With assistance from the commercial abalone industry, surveillance activities confirmed virus presence at several points west of the initial infection point at Breaksea Reef near Port MacDonnell. This demonstrated, unfortunately, that the extent of the disease extended beyond the initial control area, centred on Breaksea Reef. On 5 March 2024, the original control area was extended northerly, to Southend. A buffer zone was also put in place between Southend and the mouth of the Murray River, with associated decontamination requirements for fishing equipment. Further surveillance involving the abalone industry was initiated across the buffer zone and extended control area. That confirmed evidence of the AVG virus near Nora Creina, south of Robe, in the buffer zone.

Eradication of AVG is not feasible in an open marine environment. The aim of South Australia's response is to limit human-assisted spread of AVG. Restrictions were required for recreational and commercial fishers, in the first instance in the control area, to help limit the spread. Of course, these restrictions did cause difficulties that, as much as possible, were considered and minimised by the incident management team.

I want to acknowledge the efforts of the Southern Zone abalone sector, who assisted with the investigation and surveillance of the spread of AVG; the southern rock lobster sector, whose operations were impacted by the closures; and of course the South-East recreational fishing community, who were fantastic in working alongside other sectors and the department while restrictions were in place.

I am pleased to say that, after the extensive surveillance conducted off the coast of the South-East and after extensive consultation with the commercial and recreational fishing sectors, fishing restrictions were able to be eased, effective Wednesday 27 March. The focus has since been on a move to ongoing management, as the virus is now considered to be endemic in the Southern Zone abalone fishery, and eradication in the marine environment, as I mentioned, is not considered to be feasible.

In consultation with industry, a biosecurity code of practice for South Australia was developed. The code provides industry standards for dive operations, decontamination, regional movement of fishing equipment, as well as protocols for observing and reporting suspect abalone. The code has been developed to align with Victoria's AVG code of practice to support consistent operating standards and access to interstate markets. The industry management phase of work has transitioned to PIRSA's fishery and aquaculture division. PIRSA stood down its AVG IMT response on 22 March 2024. PIRSA is continuing to work with the Victorian Fisheries Authority to enable access to markets.

I want to thank everyone involved in the response to the AVG outbreak, including industry, the South-East community and my department, for ensuring a timely response and a collaborative approach to the transition to the management of the outbreak so that industry can get back to fishing.