A mystery illness is wiping out millions of pacific oysters in southern Tasmania and commercial growers don't know what's causing it. Farmers are desperate for licence fee relief and funding for research, as some consider closing all together.
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00:00 Pipe Clay Lagoon, south east of Hobart, was once the state's best oyster growing area.
00:08 But in the past three years, millions of oysters have died and no one knows why.
00:13 All we see is gaping oysters, open oysters and it's right across the board from baby
00:20 juveniles right through to matures.
00:24 The state's biggest grower has moved its stock to other farms.
00:28 But for Pipe Clay Lagoon's smaller farmers, that's not an option.
00:32 They're facing increased seagrass growth, dry conditions and less food in the water.
00:38 I suppose at the end of the day I'm at the end of the tether really with it.
00:42 I'll probably have to shut down in the next two or three months.
00:47 Farmers are hoping the mystery illness is temporary.
00:50 But with no cash coming in and state government fees ongoing, the clock is ticking.
00:55 We do have different streams of data that we have circulated around to IMAS and experts
01:02 there but so far nothing stands out as being a real clear cause.
01:07 So we just need to investigate that further.
01:10 The Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome has been ruled out as the cause of the dramatic
01:16 decline in oyster populations here at Pipe Clay Lagoon.
01:20 It has however been discovered in populations on Tasmania's east coast where one farmer
01:26 has reported losses of 25%.
01:29 It indicates that our breeding program has had some successes in achieving a degree of
01:35 POMS resistance in the stock.
01:37 Back at Pipe Clay Lagoon, struggling farmers are pleading for research funding to help
01:43 solve the mystery that's threatening their livelihood.
01:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]