4 September 2018

Investing to protect Queensland’s prawn farmers

The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) has just invested $155 000 into the development of tools to protect Queensland prawn farms from disease such as the white spot disease (WSD). The project will be undertaken by researchers from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The 2016 WSD outbreak in South East Queensland caused over $40m in losses to local prawn farmers.

The disease is spread via movement of infected animals or water, so the risk of infection of farmed prawns can be reduced by improvements to the monitoring and treatment systems for water entering the production ponds.

“This project will provide Australian prawn farmers with an assessment of the effectiveness of upgraded water treatment methods designed to control the risk of disease transfer onto their farms via the source water.” Says Peter Horvat, FRDC’s Communications manager.

The results will directly contribute to the design and operation of farm biosecurity facilities, as well as the refinement of biosecurity operating standards for industry.

The project will also investigate the impacts that upgrades of influent-water treatment in prawn farms will have upon algal species. These typically develop in production ponds are require careful management by farmers to maintain farm productivity.

The FRDC through investing in knowledge, innovation, and marketing aims to increase economic, social and environmental benefits for Australian fishing and aquaculture, and the wider community.

The FRDC is a co-funded partnership between its two stakeholders, the Australian Government and the fishing and aquaculture sectors.