00:00It's been a difficult two years for these prawn fishers.
00:07Now a ban on the sale of green prawns has been extended
00:11and these fishermen believe it means the end of their livelihoods.
00:15I'd love to stay in the industry but I just don't think it'll be viable for me to do it.
00:1844 families trawl the Clarence River for school prawns.
00:23Dean Opelnik estimates just a few will be able to survive the ban extension.
00:29It's going to become dog eat dog, who stays who goes.
00:3250% of our business is green prawns for human consumption and that's been taken away from us.
00:39Raw prawns from the Clarence, Evans and Richmond rivers will not be allowed to be sold until 2030
00:45over continuing concerns about white spot disease, a virus deadly to crustaceans.
00:52When we've had 10,000 tests all show a negative outcome, I think potentially that is too long.
00:58The state government has pledged $4.5 million to help those who choose to leave the industry.
01:04While white spot can't make humans sick, authorities now require all prawns to be boiled on the trawler
01:10before they're brought to shore to prevent the disease from spreading further.
01:14It means that every other area in New South Wales and indeed nationally is able to still retain a claim of white spot freedom.
01:24This Christmas the local fishers are asking for people to consider buying cooked school prawns.
01:29Let's go back to the next term, let's go back to Santa Monica's or here the other school prawns.
01:30Let's go back to Santa Monica's or here the other school, what's going on?
01:35Let's go back to Santa Monica's or at Santa Monica's.
Comments