The Greens have called for the state government to invest more in seafood testing facilities within the state as industry grapples with the invasive paralytic shellfish toxin.
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The toxin, which was detected in 2012, has closed down 50 farms in the state to date.
The bloom is restricted to the East Coast at this stage but has been identified in the Bass Strait.
The toxin is detected through water testing methods, undertaken within the state, and meat testing, conducted in Sydney.
Greens primary industries spokesperson Andrea Dawkins said interstate testing delays meant shellfish was shipped out of the state and served up in restaurants before health notifications were distributed.
She said the paralytic shellfish toxin not only posed a serious health risk to consumers but risked damage to Tasmania’s seafood brand.
“The Hodgman Government should commit to faster, on-island, shellfish testing to better protect the public, the purchasers of our products and producers themselves,” Ms Dawkins said.
Primary Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the government was investing $100,000 to modernise the Tasmanian Shellfish Quality Assurance Program to deal with the broader biotoxin issue facing our seafood industry.
“We are committed to working with the industry to improve quality assurance and deal with these naturally occurring risks to the industry,” he said.
Oysters Tasmania executive officer Neil Stump said the drivers of the algal bloom were unknown.
He said investigations were looking at whether the occurrence was cyclical or linked to the East Australian Current
Mr Stump said it had spread extensively over the past year.
“In all likelihood, the disease will be here to for the foreseeable future but whether the impact will be minor or major is hard to tell,” he said.
The state’s oyster industry was hit hard last summer by the Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome; a relatively new disease that was only uncovered in New South Wales in 2010.
About 25 per cent of the state’s total oyster crop was affected and roughly cost producers about $7 million in sales.
About 70 jobs were lost over the summer.
The state’s oyster industry directly employs about 350 people.
