Deadly abalone disease devastates South Australia's South-East waters, threatening Adelaide's fishery

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A deadly abalone disease has ravaged South Australia's South-East waters, wiping out the popular seafood and crippling the local fishery. As Abalone Viral Ganglioneuritis spreads, fishers fear it could soon reach the waters near Adelaide.

Transcript

00:00Off the coast of Port Macdonald, divers last February made a grim discovery, a disease

00:08that sent shockwaves through the abalone industry.

00:12Deep down we were thinking hell we hope it doesn't go where it could, you know potential

00:17for disaster and it has unfortunately seemed to continue on its path throughout the entire

00:21fishery here.

00:23Abalone viral ganglioneuritis kills abalone quickly and can spread fast through the water.

00:29Abalone cases of the virus have been found as far up the south east coast as Beachport.

00:35It's now done lasting damage to an internationally recognised fishery.

00:39This industry was the world leader in conservative approach to fishing and to watch that just

00:45collapse is devastating.

00:47The state's primary industries department says the disease can spread up the coast through

00:51contaminated boats and fishing gear.

00:54It's trying to stop the spread of the virus closer to fisheries near Adelaide and the

00:58west coast which are currently free of the disease.

01:01Before reaching Port Macdonald, AVG was prevalent in Victorian waters not far over the South

01:07Australian border.

01:09There the abalone fishery is only just starting to recover.

01:12We went from a 280 ton quota to zero and currently 15 years on we're sort of at about 45 tons.

01:22As the virus heads further up SA's coastline, fishers everywhere are holding their breath.

01:28I'm devastated for the people in the south east that they've gone through the same thing

01:32that we have you know the last 10, 15 odd years.

01:36A seafood staple that could be off the menu.

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