20 May 2024
The final report for the sturgeon biosecurity import risk analysis (BIRA) is available on our Import for live sturgeon for aquaculture webpage.
An application to import live sturgeon and their reproductive material for aquaculture purposes will not be considered until the final import conditions have been published.
On 12 March 2024, the department released the provisional BIRA report for the import of live sturgeon (Acipenser and Huso species) from all countries for aquaculture purposes into Australia (the sturgeon BIRA). The provisional report proposed that Acipenser and Huso species be permitted import into Australia, provided they comply with appropriate biosecurity measures. The release initiated the Inspector General of Biosecurity (IGB) referral period where a person could request the IGB to review the process the department used to conduct the BIRA. No requests were received. Therefore, as legislated in the Biosecurity Act 2015 and the Biosecurity Regulation 2016, the provisional BIRA report has been published as the final BIRA report.
The proposed biosecurity measures to manage the risks associated with the importation of live sturgeon or its reproductive material from all countries includes:
- sourcing sturgeon from disease-free stocks
- sourcing sturgeon from a premises under the supervision of the competent authority
- sourcing from a premises that cultures sturgeon only
- pre-export quarantine
- parasite treatment
- batch testing for disease agents
- egg disinfection
- post-arrival quarantine.
In addition to the biosecurity measures required under the Biosecurity Act 2015, the import of live sturgeon and their reproductive material into Australia also have requirements under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and under relevant Australian state and territory legislation.
Before an import permit application to import live sturgeon and their reproductive material for aquaculture purposes can be considered by us or the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, several activities need to be completed and the final import conditions published on our Australian Biosecurity Import Conditions (BICON) webpage. Please refer to the implementation statement for these activities.
For further inquiries, please contact aquaticbiosecurity@aff.gov.au.
Download
Sturgeon BIRA implementation statement (PDF 728 KB)
Sturgeon BIRA implementation statement (DOCX 99 KB)
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
Dr Peter Finnin
Assistant Secretary
Animal Biosecurity
Email: animalbiosecurity@aff.gov.au