The NSW DPI has up-scaled its Twofold Bay algal toxin alert, now warning the public to avoid consuming abalone and crayfish as well as shellfish due to the risk of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Last week the DPI restricted its ban to shellfish, with mussels the main industry affected. The South Coast’s lone commercial mussel producer, Eden Mussels, said it would remain closed until it was given the “all clear”.
For Eden Mussels’ co-partner Chris Boyton, that means delaying its spring harvest of 50 to 100 tonnes of mussels, and Mr Boyton hoped testing would reveal an end to the algal bloom by late last week.
But it was not to be, with the DPI extending its warning last Friday October 28, stating it wasn’t just filter-feeders the community should be wary of.
“The NSW Food Authority has confirmed that toxin levels detected in shellfish from Twofold Bay have increased,” a NSW DPI Fisheries’ spokesperson said last Friday.
“Lobsters and abalone are also known to accumulate the toxin in the viscera (tomalley) of rock lobsters and the viscera and mantle of abalone.
“It is recommended that consumption of viscera from crustaceans and gastropods captured from Twofold Bay is avoided. The mantle of abalone should either be removed or scrubbed clean to remove any pigment. As a precaution people should also avoid consuming sea urchins from the area.”
Abalone Association of NSW secretary and Millingandi resident John Smythe has an annual 3.5 tonne personal abalone quota and fished a further seven tonne for other quota owners this season, with “a small part of the fishery take” coming from Twofold Bay.
He said divers who have not fulfilled their year’s catch will be the most impacted by the ban, if they’d hoped to top up their quota from Twofold Bay before the season ends in December.
“If we get rough weather they won’t have that option of working in the protection of Twofold Bay,” Mr Smythe said.
“So it may not impact us straight away but if the ban continues it has the potential to affect a couple of divers.”
Port Stevens abalone diver Greg Finn is travelling down the coast this week, and had planned to dive in Twofold Bay before receiving the DPI alert.
Although the algal bloom reduces his work area, Mr Finn fully supported the DPI’s action.
“It’s a precautionary bio-security measure that the DPI has put into place, and it’s a responsible measure that aims to protect the wild caught brand that NSW is so proud of,” Mr Finn said on Monday.
“This advice will guide commercial operators such as myself, regarding the impacts this risk may have on the public, and I will adhere to the advice.”
Mr Finn said he will now bypass Twofold Bay and travel further south to dive, to areas of the coast “that are not impacted” such as Wonboyn, Greencape and Cape Howe near the Victorian border.
“There have been rough seas that have pushed the algae into Twofold Bay lately,” Mr Finn said, “but in a few weeks time the algae will clear and everything will be back to normal.”
Related story:
