Ongoing Bonamia ostreae parasite monitoring welcomed by oyster industry

Wednesday, 19 June 2019

The mussel farms in Big Glory Bay, Stewart Island, where the oyster parasite Bonamia ostreae was found.

A two-year commitment from Biosecurity New Zealand to continue to monitor the Bonamia ostreae parasite in Foveaux Strait has been welcomed by the oyster industry.

Bonamia ostreae was first detected in the Marlborough Sounds in 2015 and subsequently discovered in Stewart Island's oyster farms at Glory Bay two years later.

Biosecurity New Zealand made the decision to remove all the farmed oysters from the bay in 2017, which was a cruel blow for Stewart Island oyster farmers.

More than 2300 oyster cages were removed from 12 farms at Big Glory Bay in an attempt to prevent the spread of the parasite to the wild oyster fishery in Foveaux Strait.

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The Government has provided compensation costs and also surveyed the Foveaux Strait flat oysters every three months, or monthly in particularly high-risk areas.

In the Government's latest budget announcement Biosecurity New Zealand was allocated $1.4 million for a two-year monitoring programme.

The programme funding was a separate funding bid from the $6.9 million compensation package allocation in the 2019 budget.

A multi-sector governance group, including local government, industry and iwi, Biosecurity New Zealand and Fisheries New Zealand, has been established to oversee the implementation of the programme.

A Biosecurity New Zealand spokesperson said the programme will cover surveillance and restrict movements of shellfish and farming equipment to reduce the risk of spreading disease.

It also included funding for promoting biosecurity best practice, as well as establishing a Bonamia ostreae technical advisory.

Bluff Oyster Management Company Ltd operations manager Graeme Wright was pleased the Government would continue the monitoring work for a further two years.

'It's a really good commitment and we are thankful for that,' he said.

Wright believed at some point in the future, when Biosecurity New Zealand felt comfortable to pull back on its monitoring work, those within the industry would need to be vigilant by investing in their own work.

'We would be foolish not to. We would be naive to think it wouldn't happen again.'

Wright said it had been devastating for those Oyster farmers who affected by having their farms shut down.

He said he felt for them, although given the lack of detection of the parasite since the tough call was probably the correct one.