2022-04-12 Planning & Environment Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA   12 APRIL 2022




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PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                              12 APRIL 2022

      oysters, mussels, and pipis). QX disease infects the Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata), which
      is the commercial rock oyster grown along the east coast of Australia from the NSW/Victorian
      border north to the Great Sandy Strait in southern Queensland’.

      QX infection in Sydney Rock Oysters is seasonally occurring, usually between January - April, with
      affected oysters losing condition and dying through autumn and winter. While seasonal, infection
     dynamics are complex, and it is not always observed each year in those estuaries where it is known
      to occur. M. sydneyi has a lifecycle which involves at least two hosts, which means OX cannot be
      passed directly from one oyster to another (is not directly transmissible). Periods of extremely warm
      water, accompanied by high rainfall tend to result in QX outbreaks, but not always. It is important to
      note that the presence alone of Marteilia sydneyi does not necessarily result in outbreaks of QX*.
     About Winter Mortality disease in Sydney rock oysters

      Winter mortality (WM) is a poorly studied disease affecting Sydney rock oysters in estuaries in New
      South Wales and Queensland where it can cause significant losses. WM is more severe in oysters
      cultured deeper in the water column and appears linked to higher salinities. It is often suggested that
      WM is caused by the microcell parasite Bonamia roughleyi, but evidence linking clinical signs and
      histopathology to molecular data identifying bonamiasis is lacking’.

      TNC actions
      The Noosa Oyster Ecosystem Restoration Project - Project Management Plan, which was endorsed
      by the project’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and endorsed by Noosa Council in its September
      2020 general meeting, assessed environmental risks to the success of the Noosa Oyster Ecosystem
      Restoration Project.

      Pre-project implementation, those risks were rated as medium, but with management action during
      implementation, all parties agreed that those risks would be reduced to a low and acceptable level.
      TNC has implemented a raft of measures to address environmental risks. These actions, listed below,
      result in a low-risk rating for environmental threats:

      1.  Use of science and habitat suitability models to inform the site selection process (e.g., water
          quality, topography, hydrodynamic, sediment analysis, benthic habitat type, historic shellfish
          ecosystem locations).

      2.  Establishment and engagement of a technical advisory group (TAG) to help guide and review
          management interventions.

      3.  Established Shuck Don’t Chuck oyster shell recycling and will augment natural oyster reseeding
         of the oyster reef patches with oyster shells seeded with Noosa oyster spat. Reseeding is a

      1 Reference: www.dpi.nsw_gov.au/fishing/aquatic-biosecurity/pests-diseases/animal-health/squaculture/gx-
      oyster-disease
      2 Dis Aquat Organ. 2014 Jul 24;110(1-2):151-64. doi: 10.3354/da002629.

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