More than 100 fishers are preparing legal action against the federal government after a White Spot outbreak devastated Queensland’s prawn industry.

August 2, 2018

Trawlers, crabbers and worm diggers have accused the federal government of abandoning them after last year’s White Spot outbreak in Moreton Bay.

The disease has cost Queensland’s prawn industry hundreds of millions of dollars and continues to impact fishers.

More than 100 commercial fishers from the region are now preparing a class action against to cover their financial losses.

Solicitor Chris Thompson said he expects more to join the lawsuit.

“They’re all hurting very badly as a result, still, and will well into the future,” he told AAP.

Michael Wood, a career trawler and vice president of the Moreton Bay Seafood Industry Association, condemned the government’s slow response to White Spot.

“The federal government has taken no notice of it,” Mr Wood said.

“If it becomes endemic we don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Queensland Seafood Industry Association (QSIA) chief executive Eric Perez says the legal action is the last resort after lobbying efforts for compensation failed.

“We have tried every avenue that we physically can to get justice for the fishermen in Moreton Bay as well as the post-harbour sector,” Mr Perez said.

In May, the state government lifted restocking restrictions placed on farmers hit by the 2016 White Spot outbreak in the Logan River.

The federal government compensated farmers who incurred the costs of killing their stock and decontaminating facilities when White Spot was first detected in the Logan River near Brisbane and at three land-based prawn farms.