Seafood CRC: Review of the 2012 paralytic shellfish toxin non-compliance incident in Tasmania

Funded Activity Summary

In October 2012 a shipment of mussels derived from the east coast of Tasmania was rejected by Japanese import authorities due to the presence of unacceptable levels of paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs). Mussel samples were collected and tested from the implicated consignment and harvest area and it became apparent that the mussels had bioaccumulated PSTs through feeding on a bloom of the dinoflagellate algae Alexandrium tamarense group IV.

Following the initial discovery, additional seawater and bivalve samples revealed the presence of A. tamarense cells and PSTs in bivalves at several sites between Eddystone Point and Marion Bay. By early November 2012 it was revealed that scallops and rocklobsters were also impacted by PSTs and concerns were raised that other fishery products, such as sea urchins, abalone and periwinkles may also be implicated.

The presence of the PSTs at high levels in mussels represented a major breakdown in the TSQAP management plan for biotoxins in the shellfish industry. It has also raised concerns from fisheries and health personnel regarding the potential need for marine biotoxin management plans for other fisheries products, such as rocklobsters. The full impact of the algal bloom is not known at this time, however some estimates suggest cost to the bivalve sector (including multiplier effect) of $7 million (mussels = $2million; oysters = $2 million; scallops = $3million) and to the rocklobster industry of around $4-5 million (80 – 100 tonnes behind at time of writing).

Given the loss of revenue, costs of rehabilitation and damage to the industry’s reputation as a safe producer of seafood, a review is required to determine the key factors that led to the non-compliance event, and critically, to learn from this event so as to assist in the development of strategies to reduce the probability of future events occurring and impact.


Objectives:
1. What factors (e.g. biological, monitoring faults) led to the non-compliance event?
2. What have been the impacts of the non-compliance event on the Tasmanian shellfish industry and its stakeholders?
3. What similarities can be drawn from other non-compliance events domestically or internationally?
4. What are the key improvements that can be made to the TSQAP Biotoxin Management Plan to reduce the impact (likelihood and severity) of future non-compliance events?
5. What lessons can other bivalve producing states learn from this experience?
6. Is there a need to strengthen the ASQAP manual of operations around biotoxins?
7. What can the other fishery sectors (e.g. rocklobster and abalone) learn from the bivalve experience to reduce the impact of algal bloom incidents?
8. What can be done to improve communication and incident response for future events with nation-wide impacts?

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 08-04-2013

End Date: 15-06-2013

Funding Scheme: Funding Scheme not available

Funding Amount: $149,085.00

Funder: Fisheries Research and Development Corporation

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

There are no FoR codes available for this funding activity

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Compliance | Distribution | Economic | Health And Safety | Policy | Shellfish Industry | Stakeholder | Stock Assessment | Toxin | Water quality

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