29 November 2022
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The Review of the biosecurity risks of prawns imported from all countries for human consumption (the prawn review) was subject to rigorous scientific review. This included the review of the draft and provisional final reports by the members of the scientific advisory group (SAG).
This Animal Biosecurity Advice notifies stakeholders of the release of the members of the SAG’s Review of the provisional final report. The report is available on Review of Prawns and Prawn Products web page.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is carefully considering recommendations from the members of the SAG when preparing the final report for the prawn review.
The biosecurity measures recommended in the final report will form the basis of import conditions for imported prawns.
On 19 February 2021, the department engaged the members of the SAG (Joanne Daly (chair), Will Zacharin and Steve McCutcheon) in their capacity as independent experts to review the draft report. At the time, the department made a commitment to again engage the members of the SAG to consider the provisional final report for the prawn review.
The members of the SAG were asked to review whether, when conducting the prawn review, the department had:
- Properly considered relevant matters relating to the likelihoods of entry and exposure, and economic consequences.
- Made appropriate conclusions based on the available scientific information, including consideration of material contained in stakeholder submissions.
The members of the SAG reviewed the draft report for the prawn review and reported that the department had identified biosecurity measures that achieve Australia’s appropriate level of protection. The members of the SAG also made nine recommendations for inclusion in the provisional final report for the prawn review.
The department provided the members of the SAG with the provisional final report which was prepared considering the:
- Recommendations on the review of the draft report from the members of the SAG.
- Submissions about the draft report received during the stakeholder consultation period.
- Outcomes of the draft 2019–20 National recreational fishing survey - Prawn use by recreational fishers for bait and berley.
- Outcomes of research the University of Arizona was commissioned to conduct during 2021–22 investigating the effect of:
- freezing on Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei infectivity
- cooking on white spot syndrome virus and yellow head virus genotype 1 infectivity.
- All other new information, including testing of imported prawns for emerging diseases.
In their review of the provisional final report the members of the SAG commended the department on its revisions to the draft report and concluded that the department had appropriately considered their findings on the draft report, the stakeholder submissions received in response to the draft report and all the new scientific information when preparing the provisional final report.
The members of the SAG provided their report on the provisional final report to the Director of Biosecurity. You can download the report on the department’s website.
The department is carefully considering recommendations from the members of the SAG in preparing the final report for public release. The final report will include the proposed import conditions to manage the biosecurity risks associated with the importation of prawns and prawn products from all countries. It is anticipated that the final report will be released early-2023.
Australia will issue a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO) SPS Committee to inform trading partners of the proposed import conditions for prawns and prawn products at the time the final report is released. The SPS Notification will provide an opportunity for comment on any proposed changes to import conditions.
To receive information and updates on biosecurity risk analyses subscribe to Biosecurity Risk Analysis Animal. Subscribers will receive biosecurity advice notices and other notifications about animal biosecurity policy.
For further inquiries about the review, the Prawn Review Liaison Officer can be contacted at prawnreview@aff.gov.au.
Dr Peter Finnin
Assistant Secretary
Animal Biosecurity
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Email animalbiosecurity@aff.gov.au