Rodney Stevens

Clarence River prawn trawl fishermen say they still don’t know the details of how a NSW government $21.4 million package designed to assist the industry during a two-year White Spot control order will help them.

When NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty visited Coffs Harbour on June 14 to make the announcement, detail was provided on how $9.261 million of the $21.4 million package would provide assistance, and local fishermen say they are still waiting for answers.

White Spot, which poses no threat to human health but is a highly contagious viral infection that affects crustaceans such as prawns, crabs and yabbies was first found in a Palmers Island prawn farm in August 2022, and by February 2023 it was detected in all three prawn farms on the island.

Due to the biosecurity risk a control order was placed on the Clarence estuary in February preventing the removal of green prawns from the river, which was extended for two years in the $21.4 million announcement.

This extension of the control order came after more than 3000 tests on Clarence estuary prawns by the DPI found no evidence of White Spot in the river.

So far, the announcement has revealed $5.4 million of the package will help secure the future for Clarence River prawn fishers, $1.5 million will help prawn farmers upgrade their operations to better protect the environment, $1.256 million in waived fees and interest payments, $1 million in surveillance and diagnostic activities and $105,000 for the mental health ‘Stay Afloat’ program.

This leaves a massive $12.139 million from the announcement unallocated, and several prawn trawl fishermen who spoke to the Independent said they were reluctant to talk about the impact on them and their businesses until more details are revealed by the NSW government.

The fishermen all said the government assistance package was welcomed by the industry, but they were waiting for further details on how it would help individual business owners.

Due to the control order, one fisherman said most of the 50 local prawn trawl operators’ businesses, which were worth between $100,000 and $200,000 before the White Spot outbreak, were now effectively worthless.

The CV Independent contacted the Department of Primary Industries asking how the remaining $12.139 million in the package would be spent. The Department had not responded to our request at the time of going to press.

Member for Clarence Richie Williamson said the government’s $21.4 million announcement left fishermen with more questions than answers and it would have been good for Minister Moriarty to make the announcement locally, rather than at Coffs Harbour, so questions could be answered.

“The fishing families are on a knives edge, I appreciate what they are going through, and I would say to the minister as a matter of urgency, give them clarity about what the package actually is,” he said.

Mr Williamson said he couldn’t make sense of the package that was $12.139 million short on announcements, but he believed the $5.4 million component was to assist prawn trawl operators, but clarity was needed on what could be funded with that money.

“The fishermen should have had clarity about how the package would help them from the word go,” he said.

“This is just adding stress on stress, and I believe it’s grossly unfair for the fishing families.”