Since 2023, the Clarence River prawn trawl industry has been on its knees, with fishermen locked out of their livelihoods due to a White Spot Control Order costing countless millions in income.

White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) was detected by the NSW Department of Primary Industries DPI in August 2022 at a Palmers Island prawn farm, followed by two other detections at Palmers Island prawn farms in February and April 2023.

What followed was a 2-year biosecurity control order being placed on the Clarence River until June 8, 2025, preventing the movement of uncooked crustaceans from the area, crippling the industry.

In May 2025, White Spot was detected twice in school prawns caught from the Richmond River offshore area, and prawn samples that were sent to the DPI Elizabeth Macarthur Institute returned a positive result for WSSV, which was confirmed by the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness on May 25.

As a result, An Amendment Order has been issued to extend the Clarence River Biosecurity Control Order for 6 months through to December 9, 2025, while national discussions on the future management of white spot in NSW continue.

The virus does not pose a threat to human health or food safety, and consumers are reminded that seafood, including prawns, remains safe to eat.

Prawns with white spot disease may have a loose shell with many white spots on the inside surface, the spots have a pink to red discolouration and are 0.5 to 2.0mm in diameter.

In June 2023, NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty announced a $21.4 million package to support Clarence prawn fishers and farmers.

The package comprised of $5.4 million ‘to help secure the future for Clarence River prawn fishers’, $1.5 million to help prawn farmers upgrade their operations to better protect the environment, a $309,000 rent fee waiver for the Clarence River Fisherman’s Cooperative, a $82,000 rent fee waiver for mooring fees for the Clarence River prawn trawlers, $165,000 in waivers for all DPI Administration fees for affected prawn fishers and farmers, $700,000 to waive interest payments for Seafood Innovation Fund Loans, $1 million in surveillance and diagnostic activities, and $105,000 for the mental health ‘Stay Afloat’ program.

Then, after more than 10,000 negative tests for White Spot in the Clarence River by the DPI, according to Member for Clarence Richie Williamson, when the Control Order extension was announced in June 2025, an additional $1.34 million support package was announced by the Minns government.

A letter, written by fisherman Joshua Van Der Nuet, has been endorsed by locked out Clarence River trawler operators as an accurate reflection on the situation the industry is in.

“You open the Clarence River back up.

“You say they can fish again.

“But then what?”

Mr Van Der Nuet said the shutdown has impacted more than just the local fishermen.

“Will you bring back the markets,” he wrote?

“Will you rebuild the logistics network that once supported them the buyers, the bait shops, the freezer trucks, the restaurants who built menus around their catch?

“Because those things don’t wait around.

“They found alternatives.

“They moved on.”

The control order has killed a working industry, he claimed.

“The government’s two-year control order didn’t just pause a fishery,” he wrote.

“It killed a working system.

“One that, for decades, was the backbone of a proud coastal community.

“Before the ban, the Clarence could support more than 35 trawlers.

“So crews pulled in up to 14 tonnes a season.

“This wasn’t boutique fishing it was a commercial engine, feeding bait, seafood, and local income across the region.

“By the end of 2023, only three trawlers remained.

“And for what?”

Mr Van Der Nuet said the shutdown was not for affected prawns, but infected policy.

“Not one prawn caught in the Clarence estuary tested positive for White Spot,” he said.

“Surveillance data confirmed it.

“The estuary was clean.

“The detections came from offshore waters and within the aquaculture farms nestled on Palmers Island far removed from the shallow nets and quiet backwaters where these prawns are harvested.

“The government tried to kill a tiny bug, and in doing so, dropped a wrecking ball on a working fishery.

“They aimed at a bug, but hit an entire way of life.”

The mental, physical, financial, and emotional tolls these families endured, grew.

“Fishermen watched their livelihoods dissolve while waiting for updates, assistance, or even a clear reason why,” Mr Van Der Nuet said.

“They were told they could accept temporary income support or surrender their shares permanently for $133 each barely a fraction of what they were worth.

“Some tried to hold on.

“Others sold their gear.

“The rest took up debt and day work, hoping for answers that never came.”

As time passed, so did the impact to these people, the community, and industries.

“Meanwhile, the damage compounded,” Mr Van Der Nuet said.

“Bait shops that once relied on Clarence prawns stopped placing orders.

“Recreational fishers, no longer able to get their hands on fresh bait, switched to plastic lures.

“Wholesalers re-routed their logistics.

“Restaurants re-wrote their menus.

“The market adapted just not in favour of the local fishers.”

Will the local industry as we knew it ever recover?

“Now as the control order nears its end, government agencies talk about ‘reopening the fishery.’

“But reopening isn’t recovery.

“You can’t flip a switch and expect an entire industry to come back to life.”

Due to this decision, the fishermen have lost trust, and primarily access to their lifeblood.

“It wasn’t a case of natural disaster or biological inevitability,” Mr Van Der Nuet said.

“It was a policy decision.

“One made without any plan to undo the damage to rebuild trust, reinstate lost access, or repair the long, fragile chain that connects a trawler in the Clarence to a prawn on someone’s dinner plate.

“The fishers of the Clarence River weren’t reckless.

“They were sustainable.

“Accountable.

“Seasoned operators in a river they knew better than most scientists ever could.

“And they were punished not for doing something wrong but for being easy to sideline.”

What’s next in this ongoing battle.

“Now they’re expecting to start again,” Mr Van Der Nuet said.

“To recover a fishery, a market, and a living.

“But no one’s answering the real question:

“After you’ve destroyed a working industry what exactly do you expect to come back?”

The Clarence Valley Independent will speak to trawler operators and committee members about the impact of the White Spot lockout on their lives in future editions.

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 13 August 2025.