Department mussels in on vessel pest vigilance

Three mussel species ” Asian green mussels, New Zealand green-lipped mussels and brown mussels ” listed as marine pests by the department were detected on vessels from the oil and gas industry during inspections in April.

The department’s biosecurity team leader Victoria Aitken said immediate action was taken to manage the threat. She said all affected vessels were cleaned, reinspected and followed up with a dive-check in recent weeks. Ms Aitken said the problem had been cleared.

‘We consider the measures taken to manage the vessels have kept the risks to the State’s aquatic environment to a very low level,’ she said.

‘Both these incidents caused minimal disruption to industry’