Shadowing Practice: White spot disease is crippling Australia's prawn industry - and imports are to blame | Landline - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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White Spot is back in the waterway.
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White Spot is back in the waterway.
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Living on our savings, most of us,
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there's quite a few that,
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you know, they're doing nothing.
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The biosecurity risk is not limited purely to prawn.
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It is all unprocessed, uncooked seafood that comes into this country.
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It is going to bite the government.
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It's not a matter of if,
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it is purely a matter of when.
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For well over 100 years,
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the Clarence River in northern New South Wales has been a source of food and work.
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Recently that's changed.
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Trawling for prawns runs deep into the make-up of this community and it's in trouble.
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It's been a long track for the last three years and not being able to work on the small
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prawn industry type of prawn.
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It's to the stage now where we've virtually given up hope.
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The issue, White Spot is back in the waterway.
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Glen Dawson is the Clarence River Prawn Committee Chair.
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He says the people of the region are struggling and doing their best to survive.
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Living on our savings, most of us.
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There's a few of us are lucky enough to be able to go and catch mullet and catch other fish.
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There's quite a few that, yeah, they're doing nothing.
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And trying to get them onto Centrelink,
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which we've tried to help them all out in, bloody near impossible.
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So what is white spot?
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White spot is a highly contagious disease of crustaceans that can kill farm prawns and other farm crustaceans quickly.
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While crustaceans can carry white spot and be affected,
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but population impacts like those seen in farm crustaceans are not known to occur.
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White spot does not affect people and New South Wales prawns and seafood remain safe to eat.
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In 2022, white spot was first detected in an enclosed hatchery facility on the Clarence River
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and then later in 2023 it was detected in local prawn farms.
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The New South Wales DPI are being cautious.
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The fishers themselves say there are flaws in the testing.
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No white spot in the river never ever has been.
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It's only in the ocean.
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And we believe the last test in the ocean was caused by the cyclone we had there 12 months ago.
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That current from Queensland, where the white spot is predominant up there,
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that current run at over five knots down the east coast.
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And we believe those problems come from up there.
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Melissa Walker is the manager for aquatic biosecurity programs at New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
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She says it's reasonable to ask why the river is being treated as a hot zone,
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a place where biosecurity restrictions apply.
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Being a wild school prawn population that it was detected in later in 2024
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and then in 2025 outside of Evans and Richmond and the Glarence Rivers in 2025,
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we were unable to separate those areas between the river and that near offshore area in the oceanic populations.
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There are no vaccines for white spot,
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so treating them en masse isn't an option.
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And the only way of killing the disease is by cooking the prawns.
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Currently, under the New South Wales Biosecurity White Spot Control Order,
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the requirements are that prawns must be cooked before they move outside of the zone.
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This means fishers must cook prawns on their trawlers
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and farmers at their facilities if they want to sell them beyond the local area.
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Uncooked or green prawns must stay within the zone for local sale or consumption.
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If people want to move green prawns to a specific land-based facility outside the zone,
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they have to apply for a permit and have a strict approved biosecurity plan.
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The same goes for other crustaceans like crabs or marine worms.
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The intergenerational fishing that has happened on this beautiful Clarence River up until this year has run four,
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five generations deep.
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But with the new restrictions on prawn trawling,
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they're saying
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that only about five boats could make a living out of what used to be 40 boats trawling on this river.
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This river is unlike any other river in Australia.
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We predominantly catch small prawns here.
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The Asian market like those small green prawns and also the bait.
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You know, bait goes Australia wide from this river and we'll no longer be able to do that.
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So, yeah.
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Across the border near Queensland's Gold Coast,
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prawn farms on the Logan River were one of Australia's first white spot hotspots.
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Detected in late November 2016,
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the disease infected seven farms along this river.
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All through to February 2017 and it actually devastated all of the prawn farms here
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and they were all shut down for over a year while they fallowed and tried to do as much biosecurity as possible.
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Facing a threat never before seen in Australia,
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biosecurity departments and local growers were pushed to their limits.
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The farms acted immediately, sealing their gates and stopping water exchange to prevent further spread.
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They were soon overwhelmed, not just by the disease,
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but by the waves of scientists and officials who arrived to investigate.
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Kim Hooper is the executive officer of the Australian Prawn Farmers Association.
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She says almost 10 years on, prawn farming has changed.
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Now here in the Gold Coast area they are operating very successfully.
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The reason being is that they have put in a lot more biosecurity.
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They did have biosecurity before
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but it's very hard to have biosecurity for something you didn't know was here in the first place or had come here.
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Shannon Moore is the general manager at Gold Coast Tiger Prawns.
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The farm has been operating for 40 years.
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And they're big.
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selling between 600 to 800 tonnes per year has taken a lot of work and investment to recover.
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We farm with a lot less water,
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with a lot less risk.
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We've bought some really expensive equipment to help us filter out
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the water to make sure things are as safe as we can possibly make it.
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But that risk is always there for us.
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It's a risk that if White Spot was to enter our farm again,
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there's a very good chance that we won't be able to farm on this land ever again,
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especially not with tiger prawns,
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which I think would be a massive tragedy.
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Even with all those checks and balances,
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Queensland's prawn farmers, like those in New South Wales,
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have strict rules around selling.
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Dr Stephen Wesch is the principal scientist with the Animal Biosecurity Team at Biosecurity Queensland.
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For prawn farmers, they have to first cook their prawns if they want to move them outside of the area,
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which does create a few issues for the farmers.
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Obviously there's a loss of access for the green prawns market,
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but effectively that's the only treatment available.
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They're free to continue to sell green prawns within the area,
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but everything needs to be cooked if it's going to be moved outside.
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I think we still make the best prawns in the world.
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I really have no question about that effort that we put in,
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the fact that like best aquaculture practice is one of the global standards that we operate under.
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Most of the things inside that came from Australian prawn farms
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because we were known to be doing it the best of anybody in the world.
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So now the rest of the world has to keep up with us.
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What's the issue for you at the moment when it comes to White Spot?
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Well right now I guess we're sitting in a world where the thing
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that brought White Spot to Australia in the first place is still happening.
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There's still imported raw prawns coming in every single day.
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The rules in Queensland aren't just restricted to prawn farmers.
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Like New South Wales, there are fewer trawlers than there used to be.
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White spots out there in wild populations,
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particularly in Moreton Bay, within the control area.
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So what we have in place there are movement restrictions so
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that we're not unknowingly spreading the virus outside with that product as it moves around.
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Another heavy blow for the industry has come from the far north,
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where there hasn't been an incursion of white spot.
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One of the country's largest wild prawn providers,
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Raptors and Sons, has closed operation in Karumba,
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citing significant price slumps from market oversupply and high operational costs.
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It's that market oversupply that has the whole of industry concerned.
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David Bobberman is the executive officer of the Queensland Seafood Industry Association.
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He says a federal government proposal of relaxation of import rules for raw prawns poses a major problem.
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Oh, what a disaster.
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How dare the federal government under free trade agreements tell the Australian public
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that they're quite open to allowing biosecurity risks to come into this nation.
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It beggars belief.
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It is just not acceptable.
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The community needs to stand up and tell the government that this sort of behaviour is not applicable.
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We don't import raw pork unless it's going to be processed straight away.
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He says the risk comes when uninformed consumers take raw seafood to use as bait,
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inadvertently introducing the biosecurity risk into the broader ecosystem.
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Australia imports thousands of tonnes of unprocessed seafood every year.
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The biosecurity risk is not limited purely to prawn.
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It is all unprocessed, uncooked seafood that comes into this country.
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It is going to bite the government at some stage.
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It's not a matter of if,
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it is purely a matter of when.
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Kim Hooper is just as angry.
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The government are currently looking at a compliance-based scheme for three countries that have asked for it.
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And two of those countries have white spot.
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The proposed compliance-based scheme means relying on those countries to test for disease before they leave their ports.
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They'll be randomly tested at the Australian border.
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Instead of mandatory testing of every container.
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So when I talk about that country that had 4,500 containers
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and 20 of them had white spot that they said did not,
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that is one of the countries that has asked for that relaxed biosecurity coming in.
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Landline requested an interview with Julie Collins, Australia's Minister for Fisheries.
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Her office has provided this statement instead.
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The Australian government will never compromise on biosecurity
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and there has been no change in import policy for prawns imported into Australia for human consumption.
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David Bubberman says the solution is clear.
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Is there anything that those big retailers who are selling imported seafood should be doing?
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I would like to see them stop retailing it.
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Quite honestly, we're a country that is surrounded by sea.
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We have an enormous amount of seaford out there.
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It's sustainably harvested.
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It is the highest quality out there.
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For Glen and people working on the Clarence River,
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the reality of this situation is evident.
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I'm getting to the age where I'm ready to retire,
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but the younger fishermen that have got young families and mortgages, absolutely devastating.
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You worried about them?
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Oh very, very much.
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Yeah.
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Especially the younger ones.
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I do get emotional talking about them.
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Yeah.
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Thank you.
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Context & Background
The video titled "White spot disease is crippling Australia's prawn industry - and imports are to blame" discusses a severe issue affecting the prawn industry in Australia, particularly around the Clarence River in New South Wales. This area has long been a source of livelihood for local fishermen, but recent outbreaks of white spot disease threaten the community's economic stability. The dialogue features Glen Dawson, Chair of the Clarence River Prawn Committee, who emphasizes the impact of the disease on local families. The conversation also touches on the biosecurity measures taken by the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, highlighting the challenges faced by fishermen in testing for white spot and the ongoing risks posed by this disease.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- “It's been a long track for the last three years.” - This phrase conveys a sense of ongoing struggle and persistence.
- “Living on our savings, most of us.” - Use this to discuss financial difficulties or reliance on savings in tough times.
- “We’ve virtually given up hope.” - A powerful expression of despair that can be used in various contexts.
- “The issue, white spot is back in the waterway.” - This can be referenced when discussing recurring problems.
- “It's not a matter of if, it is purely a matter of when.” - An impactful phrase that reflects inevitability or prediction.
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- Watch the video: Pay attention to the nuances of speech, intonation, and emotion conveyed by the speakers.
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- Repeat aloud: Mimic the speaker right after you hear the dialogue, using shadowspeak to match their pace and tone.
- Record yourself: Use a recording device to capture your voice. Compare it to the original to identify areas for improvement.
- Practice regularly: Incorporate this into your IELTS speaking practice routine or enjoy shadow speech sessions. Utilize a shadowing site or resources that support you in this endeavor.
By integrating these phrases and techniques into your everyday practice, you'll enhance your spoken English, making your communication more effective and nuanced.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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