The Australian farmed Barramundi is estimated at over $37.1 million AUD with a production of over 3,772 tonnes annually. The value of the wild-catch sector was estimated to be $9.9 million AUD with 1,073 tonnes produced. In addition, Australia imports a range of uncooked barramundi and grouper commodities. A recent risk assessment highlighted a number of risks associated with the import of uncooked barramundi and grouper including Red sea bream iridoviral disease (RSIVD), Infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) and Scale drop syndrome virus (SDSV) are moderate risks, based on current import practices in Australia. Singapore Grouper Iridovirus (SGIV) is an additional iridovirus that may pose a risk to both barramundi and grouper farms. However, the Australian Federal Department of Agriculture does not consider there is sufficient evidence to suggest that importation of uncooked barramundi products poses a risk that exceeds Australia's Appropriate Level of Protection and regulatory actions to mitigate these perceived biosecurity risks is therefore unlikely to be implemented.

This investment will determine the presence of RSIV, ISKNV, SDSV and SGIV in imported uncooked barramundi and grouper collected from seafood retail outlets and review the relevance of results and the published literature to current import risk assessment and regulation.