Pearl oyster farming is one of Australia's most successful aquaculture industries, with substantial scope for future growth. Recent data suggest that the pearling industry generates approximately $100 m pa and provides significant employment opportunities in remote areas of Australia. Despite its remarkable success, the viability of Australian P. maxima pearling is compromised by a fatal disease (oyster oedema disease, OOD). If OOD is not controlled, the industry is unlikely to develop as efficiently and cost effectively as required. In some areas, the disease is making it difficult to restock growing areas with hatchery reared spat, and it is significantly decreasing the number of oysters available to produce pearls. OOD also appears to be impacting wild P. maxima populations.

The proposed project is the first step in developing an integrated management strategy to control OOD in the Australian pearling industry. Some progress has been made in studying the disease. We suspect that OOD is initiated by an infectious virus associated with secondary bacterial infection. But we still do not understand:

1. the precise causative agent(s) of OOD, or,

2. how to provide early diagnosis of the disease

These gaps in our knowledge mean that industry does not have sufficient information to establish effective management strategies that can control OOD. Most importantly, we need diagnostic methods to detect the onset of disease before catastrophic outbreaks occur. Such tests could be used to identify disease-free broodstock for hatcheries, find areas where OOD is less prevalent, determine environmental factors that might be associated with infection, and manage the translocation of OOD-affected oysters. Our project addresses these needs in order to identify management practices that can be used to control OOD and secure the Australian pearling industry.

Australian prawn production, forecast at 24 kilotonnes in 2014/15, is valued at >$310 million. The prawn fishery is an important natural resource that supports a substantial export industry. Prawn aquaculture in northern Australia accounts for approximately 20% of the total volume of Australian production. The new, emerging disease syndrome, characterised by hepatopancreatitis and mortalities in farmed P monodon, was first reported in north Queensland in early 2015. The disease was again detected in late 2015 and emerged in central Queensland in early 2016. The disease in two prawn farming regions in Queensland is ongoing. While there are similarities with the emerging disease in central and north Queensland with exotic AHPND, the following important information is still unknown:

1) what is the variability (if any) in host bacterial strains associated with the AHPND toxin genes in diseased prawns in Queensland, particularly between the two different regions currently affected?

2) what is the pathogenicity of Australian bacterial isolates containing the AHPND toxin genes to P. monodon and P merguiensis how does this compare to disease caused by exotic AHPND isolates?

3) the preliminary WGS analysis needs to be repeated/confirmed using a more stringent and advanced platform.

This project will characterise the causative agent(s) and hepatopancreatitis disease in Australian farmed P. monodon. This information is critical for the prawn industry, policy-makers and regulators in order to respond to the disease. The Project aligns with Key Research Area 6.2.1 of the FRDC AAHS R&D Plan “Knowledge about new and emerging infectious diseases”.

Research has found that fishers are subject to a multitude of stressors, including those relating to government policies and co-management challenges, a fluctuating market place, crew cohesion and on-shore social relationships, and the pressures of working in a dangerous workplace. Compounding the well-known physical dangers associated with the fishing industry, these factors all place pressure on fisher mental wellbeing, which in turn contributes to issues such as clinically diagnosed anxiety disorders, poor eating habits and substance abuse, eg, evidence from around the world suggests that the particular stresses of fishing contribute to higher than average rates of smoking among fishers.
Findings from the RIRDC-funded project Staying Healthy: Behaviours and services used by farmers and fishers indicate that while participants from certain farming industry areas have benefited from industry involvement in health and wellbeing, including in relation to mental health, fishers are less likely to report that industry associations have helped them access health and wellbeing information or programs. Some farmers described significant lifestyle changes after participating in programs that were promoted, sponsored or facilitated by trusted industry organisations. As well, recent research (Brooks, 2011, Health and Safety in the Australian Fishing Industry, RIRDC, Canberra) has found a lack of awareness of occupational health and safety among fishers. The Research Audit of Social Sciences Fisheries Research (Clarke, 2009) noted research findings that social wellbeing is related to financial wellbeing, and that social networking is negatively affected by working hours, suggesting a place for an industry specific approach to social connection and mental health. There appears to be a broking role for industry groups and organisations in enhancing the health of the fishing workforce. This project will identify strategies for industry and fishing community organisations to take on this role in effective, but cost and resource efficient, ways.