Exotic diseases pose a serious threat to Australian fisheries and aquatic species.   

It’s crucial that Government and industry work together to enhance preparedness and build response capabilities for emergency aquatic animal disease (EAD) incidents. 

One key way to prepare is through emergency simulations to test technical responses to an exotic disease outbreak and ensure they are fit for purpose.   

A national simulation ‘Exercise FlyWheel’ will take place with the farmed barramundi industry throughout March 2023.  

Participants include the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, farm managers and staff from the barramundi industry, the Australian Barramundi Farmers Association, and aquatic veterinarians.  

The exercise will involve an online workshop to share knowledge and increase understanding of emergency response, biosecurity and industry practices, priorities and perspectives.  

A face-to-face exercise will also be conducted, where participants will be presented with a suspected disease outbreak scenario and asked to develop an initial response plan.  

A final online workshop to develop an action plan that addresses gaps in preparedness that were identified in the first two workshops, will then be held on 30 March 2023. 

The aim of this exercise is to test technical responses to an exotic disease outbreak and ensure they are fit for purpose and include practical information to guide a response in the farmed barramundi sector.  

Photo credit: Matt Blyth and the Australian Barramundi Farmers Association 

Following the exercise, a national webinar will be held to share learnings with other industry sectors to further extend the project’s outcomes.  

Ready, set, go! Preparing for emergency disease outbreaks in aquatic animals, is supported by funding from the FRDC on behalf of the Australian Government (project 2020-048) and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry. In-kind support has been provided by the ABFA, Biosecurity Queensland, and Agriculture Victoria and project support is being provided by the ABFA and Aquaculture Development and Veterinary Services. This project is also activity 5.3 in AQUAPLAN 2022-2027. 

For further information about the exercise, please contact Katie Scutt at katie.scutt@aff.gov.au.  

This relates to R&D Plan Outcomes 1 and 2