Date of effect: 14/07/2014
The Department of Agriculture issues this direction in writing under the Export Control (Fish and Fish Products) Orders 2005, Order 75, directing exporters and export registered establishments to comply with the current rock lobster fishery closure in Tasmania.
The Department of Agriculture has been advised by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and the Environment (DPIPWE), Tasmania, that the Maria Island Biotoxin Zone has been closed to rock lobster fishing due to elevated levels of paralytic shellfish toxins found in shellfish on marine farms in the north of Great Oyster Bay.
Detailed information in relation to the DPIPWE closure can be found at Toxic Algal Bloom Update and Fishery Closures.
Contact DPIPWE if you have any questions in relation to the closure direction.
NOTE: To support the export of rock lobster and rock lobster products sourced from areas that remain open for fishing (and thus NOT subject to the DPIPWE closure), exporters are required to include the following statement on all Declarations of Compliance for all rock lobster:
“This rock lobster/rock lobster product has been prepared from rock lobster that have been sourced from an open fisheries area”
For queries regarding rock lobster exports, please contact Dairy Eggs Fish