Virus Threat Recognised
15 July 2008AUSTRALIA - A community organisation in New South Wales is claiming victory in its bid to protect the flora and fauna of the waters around Port Stephens.
The Pindimar Bundabah Community Association says it has been successful in opposing a land-based development of an abalone farm at Port Stephens over concerns about a potential virus threat.
“In an article put out by the Department of Primary Industries the public is finally aware of the severity of this virus, which developed and escaped from a land-based abalone farm in Victoria,” Pindimar Bundabah Community Association publicity officer Peter Economos told Myall Coast Nota.
Many kilometres of coastal waters were closed to abalone fishermen and it devastated the abalone industry and restricted marine activities in the southern coastal waters, Myall Coast Nota reports.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries has banned the use of abalone gut for bait or burley in all NSW waters after the incident in Victoria.
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