Major events like Easter and Christmas see many Australians buying delicious, fresh oysters to share with friends and family. But supply will be limited for years to come, as farmers deal with the fallout from an outbreak of Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome. ALICIA BARKER looks at the damage Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome has done and how the industry was recovering.
SINCE February, Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome, or POMS, has ripped through several Southern and South-Eastern Tasmanian oyster farms, leaving devastation in its wake.
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But what is this mysterious disease, and why is it in our waters?
According to POMS expert Professor Richard Whittington, of the University of Sydney, the disease is, at its core, quite simple.
"It is a viral infection that causes the oysters to suddenly go to sleep," Professor Whittington said.
"Their shells gape open and all of the scavengers in the sea dash in and consume the meat."
The disease works swiftly - once infected, the oyster will be dead within a day.
POMS was first discovered in Australian waters in New South Wales in 2010.
Previous catastrophic POMS outbreaks left New Zealand and France industries in disarray, still recovering from the destruction caused.
More recently, a 2013 POMS outbreak in NSW's Hawkesbury River killed 10 million oysters in just three days.
The entire annual crop of young oysters going into the "grow-out" phase.
The $3 million-a-year Pacific oyster industry in the river was abandoned.
Although the disease is not harmful to humans, there is no cure for POMS.
Once it takes hold there is almost nothing anyone can do to stop it, Professor Whittington said.
In Tasmania, unusually high water temperatures, combined with the introduction of the virus in the marine ecosystem - possibly with warm water currents from the north, or by commercial shipping, other boat movements, and other unknown pathways - could be to blame for the spread of the disease, he said.
"It did not get to Tasmania through any fault of the oyster farming industry."
But it is the oyster farmers who are now paying the price for the disease, making arrangements to begin the laborious process of destocking their farms and counting their dead.
FARMERS IN MOURNING
OYSTER farmer and director at Tas Prime Oysters Jon Poke has seen firsthand the devastation POMS leaves in its wake.
As the director of Estuarine Oyster Company in Pitt Water, he felt the full brunt of the disease.
"We are anticipating that we'll lose 80 per cent of our stock that was on the farm at the time, which was going to be a direct loss of about $800,000 in lost stock," Mr Poke said.
But POMS has taken away much more than income.
Mr Poke said he mourned most of all the opportunity to continue farming.
His son Josh operates the farm, and speaking with him and other farmers in the area, Mr Poke says they were taking each day as it comes.
"They try to go out on the lease and they see hope where there's a group of oysters that hasn't shown any effects on that particular day, to going out the next day and 50 per cent of that group of oysters will be dead.
"They're on a real rollercoaster of emotions as they watch their crops die."
Oysters Tasmania executive officer Neil Stump said many farmers had been emotionally shaken by the destruction of their harvest.
"One guy [said to me] 'You know I'm pretty good when I get up in the morning, but by about midday I feel depressed," Mr Stump said.
"There's no doubt a number of farmers are asking themselves that question.
"Most of them seem fairly resilient and seem determined to see this through and come out the other end, but it's not going to be an easy process for them."
THE LOSS
BEFORE POMs hit Tasmania, there was still 30 per cent of the 2015-16 financial year's crop yet to harvest, Mr Stump said.
"Of that 30 per cent, we believe we may have lost up to 70 per cent of that.
"So we'll only have 30 per cent of 30 per cent left to harvest, if that."
Mr Stump said it was difficult to calculate losses in dollar figures, but he roughly estimated the industry would suffer up to $7 million in lost sales.
"Next year, it's going to be even more," he said.
Tasmania supplied between 35 to 40 per cent of Australia's Pacific oysters, and 90 per cent of Australia's oyster spat.
Southern Australia was the biggest producer of Australia's Pacific oysters and the major oyster hatcheries in Tasmania supplied more than 80 per cent of juvenile oysters into South Australia, Mr Stump said.
The South Australian government prohibited importation of any live oyster products from Tasmania into the state until the end of July, due to the POMS outbreak.
"While South Australian growers would normally be starting to get product off the hatcheries in Tasmanian now, through to July they won't be getting that product," Mr Stump said.
"Yet again, in 18 months time, the amount of oysters they would normally supply into the market will take a hit as well, for a four or five-month period at a minimum."
Mr Stump said about 70 people had already lost their jobs to date.
"Most of the growers have had to reduce their staffing levels to a skeleton staff, and they're on a care and maintenance regime until they feel it's the right time to go and commence the stock recovery process," he said.
The process involved farmers going out on their lease and retrieving product still alive, dispose of mortalities (empty shells) and feedback data to Oysters Tasmania about the size and class of oysters that have been affected.
"It's going to be heartbreaking for farmers to be doing that," Mr Poke said.
"It's similar to a farmer having to put down his livestock, you know, the impact that it has on farmers during the drought."
Mr Stump said with pared-back staffing levels, this task would be more laborious than usual.
"They're some of the issues that as an industry we'll be discussing and potentially making representations to the government as to where their assistance can best be targeted," he said.
THE RESPONSE
THE Tasmanian government, which is responsible for the first response to POMS, announced an assistance package last month, totalling more than $777,000.
This included:
■ waiving this year's licence fees, due in April.
■ the next lease rental fees.
■ the Tasmanian Shellfish Quality Assurance Program.
The relief provided about $7500 to each grower, of which there are 104 in Tasmania, depending on the size of their lease.
"Just as our understanding of the virus in the Tasmanian context is not yet complete, neither is our assistance," Primary Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff.
The government provided counselling and support for farmers through the Rural Alive and Well program and a Rural Financial Counselling Service - run through Rural Business Tasmania - providing free counsel to farmers and producers suffering hardship.
Biosecurity Tasmania was busy testing for the disease in leases around the state.
PROTECTING FUTURE OYSTERS
MR STUMP, Mr Poke and Professor Whittington all agreed it was essential now to invest further funds into the POMS resistant oyster breeding program run by Australian Shellfish Industries.
"What we've got to do is put the research into getting stock that is resistant to the virus and the Australian oyster industry has been well preparing themselves for that," Mr Poke said.
"The funding for research is limited.
"It's a very expensive process and with limited funding it hasn't progressed as rapidly as it could."
Lyons Liberal MHR Eric Hutchinson said he was working with state and federal governments to support oyster growers into the future.
"Significant progress is being made to breed POMS-resistant oysters with survival rates up to 90 per cent recorded so far by Australian Shellfish Industries," Mr Hutchinson said.
"Furthermore, the Commonwealth has two avenues of support through the Stronger Biosecurity and Quarantine Initiative SBQI [often known as the flying squad] and the Agriculture White Paper's Immediate assistance fund."
He said he was preparing to work with the state government to support the program further.
Meanwhile, oyster growers with stock available to sell were expected to increase their prices to cope with the difficult circumstances.
Mr Stump said this outbreak would change how farmers went about their practice once more data had been collected from affected leases.
"It's teasing that data out and understanding what that means, if it means anything, that's going to be one of the challenges," he said.
"Farmers will have to think differently about how they farm in a changed environment, and an environment where the disease is most likely going to be present on an ongoing basis."
In the meantime, Tasmanian oysters are safe to eat.
"It's important to remember that Tasmanian oysters are still safe for consumption and are just as delicious as ever," Mr Hutchinson said.