State Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair says he’s looking at how results of contamination sampling can be made available sooner for Hunter prawners.
The DPI yesterday revealed it would take around two months for the results, in the wake of the Williamtown RAAF base contamination.
Hunter River prawners have vowed to delay the season as a precaution – and some say they won’t trawl until they have the all-clear, which could be after Christmas.
Full response from Niall Blair below:
“I know how tough this is on prawn trawlers in the area. It is important the appropriate testing take place but we are looking at how those results can be available sooner – to make sure our fishers are back in business sooner.
Any final recommendations regarding the results will be made by the independent expert panel.”
