IN THE MATTER of the Resource Management Act 1991 AND IN THE MATTER of a Board of Inquiry appointed under section 149J of the Resource Management Act 1991 to consider The New Zealand King Salmon Co. Limited's private plan change requests to the Marlborough Sounds Resource Management Plan and resource consent applications for marine farming at nine sites located in the Marlborough Sounds STATEMENT OF EVIDENCE OF BENJAMIN KEITH DIGGLES IN RELATION TO RISKS FROM DISEASE FOR THE NEW ZEALAND KING SALMON CO. LIMITED JUNE 2012 D A Nolan / J D K Gardner-Hopkins Phone 64 4 499 9555 Fax 64 4 499 9556 PO Box 10-214 DX SX11189 Wellington CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ................................................................................. 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................... 3 QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE ............................................................................. 6 SCOPE OF EVIDENCE ........................................................................................................... 8 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................... 8 SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE ................................................................................................. 10 APPENDIX 1 – List of New Zealand salmon diseases ......................................................... 34 APPENDIX 2 – Risk Assessment Methodology used in the Disease Assessment Report .. 35 Hazard identification ......................................................................................................... 35 Release assessment ............................................................................................................ 36 Exposure assessment ......................................................................................................... 37 Risk estimation .................................................................................................................. 41 Risk mitigation .................................................................................................................. 42 Option evaluation............................................................................................................... 42 APPENDIX 3 – Curriculum Vitae – Dr Ben Diggles ........................................................... 43 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AGD Amoebic Gill Disease ALOP Appropriate Level of Protection IPN Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis IPNV Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus ISA Infectious Salmon Anaemia ISAV Infectious Salmon Anaemia Virus OIE World Organisation for Animal Health (formerly Office International des Epizooties). 2 . www.digsfish.com EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A This document outlines the statement of evidence by Dr Ben Diggles in relation to assessment of the fish disease risks potentially associated with expansion of salmon farming in the Marlborough Sounds, as described in the planning and resource consent applications presented by the New Zealand King Salmon Company‟s Sustainably Growing King Salmon Proposal. B A detailed assessment of the fish disease risks posed by the proposed development was presented in the Disease Assessment Report. That report presented the results of a qualitative risk analysis undertaken using internationally recognised methodology for assessment of the risks of transfer of aquatic disease agents. After an extensive literature review, the risk assessment found that 4 infectious disease agents (Aquatic birnavirus, amoebic/nodular gill disease caused by amoebae (Neoparamoeba perurans and Cochliopodia spp.), sea lice (Caligus and Lepeophtheirus spp.), and whirling disease cased by the myxozoan Myxobolus cerebralis) should be considered as diseases of concern that required detailed risk assessment. However, based on the outcomes of these detailed risk assessments, I found that none of the 4 diseases of concern were likely to cause significant disease in wild fishes or other aquatic animals under the conditions experienced in the Marlborough Sounds. The risk analysis therefore indicated that these 4 disease agents posed no negative or cumulative threat to the health of wild aquatic animals in the Marlborough Sounds, and because of this, I considered that no additional risk management measures were necessary if the proposed development went ahead. C Several of the public submissions raised to the proposal suggested that the proposed development could increase the risk of introduction of unknown or unspecified infectious diseases into wild fish populations. However, none of the submissions presented any new information or evidence that I considered would require me to modify the outcomes of the risk 3 . www.digsfish.com assessment. The risk assessment was, by necessity, limited to consideration of disease agents of salmon that are known to occur in New Zealand. While emergence of new (i.e. “unknown”) infectious diseases is always a possibility, the risk assessment recognised that the main threat in this regard in the New Zealand context relates to biosecurity breakdowns at the border, which could potentially allow introduction of exotic disease agents into the country. Several biosecurity leaks in New Zealand in recent times demonstrate this possibility, but the risk that biosecurity leaks could allow exotic diseases to be introduced into New Zealand‟s salmon farming industry remains largely unquantified at this time. Because of this, I considered that the salmon farming industry in New Zealand needs to be able to effectively manage any new disease problems that may emerge if biosecurity leaks occur at the border in the future. D In my opinion, the proposed planning changes, if approved, would allow New Zealand King Salmon to expand without increasing stocking densities on individual farms, while permitting establishment of 3 independent farm management areas separated by ideal buffer zones. Because the proposed planning change would allow expansion of salmon farming in the Marlborough Sounds without increasing stocking density of fish in cages at each site, this represents best practice and would minimise the risk of emergence of new endemic diseases because the dynamics of infectious diseases are often related to the density of host populations. I consider that the ability to establish independent farm management areas separated by ideal buffer zones of at least 18 km (and preferably > 30 km “as the fish swims”, as is the case for the proposed development) represents world‟s best practice in salmonid seacage farming. This is because such an arrangement would allow best practice biosecurity principles to be utilised (such as integrated pest management strategies including site fallowing and year class farming) if a biosecurity lapse at the border allowed entry of an exotic salmon pathogen in the future. E In my opinion, the ability to utilise best practice biosecurity principles and integrated pest management strategies, if required, would greatly increase 4 . www.digsfish.com the chances of containment, management and eradication of any exotic disease agents or new endemic disease agents that may emerge in the future, to the benefit of the salmon farming industry, New Zealands fisheries, and the marine environment of the Marlborough Sounds and New Zealand. 5 . www.digsfish.com STATEMENT OF EVIDENCE OF DR BEN DIGGLES FOR NEW ZEALAND KING SALMON QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE 1. My full name is Benjamin Keith Diggles 2. I hold a Bachelor of Science (with first class Honours) from 1992 and a PhD from 1995 from the University of Queensland, specialising in parasitology of aquatic animals (fishes). 3. I am currently Managing Director and principal consultant for DigsFish Services Pty Ltd, a private aquatic animal health consultancy which I established in 2003. The company provides an independent aquatic animal health consulting service for the fisheries and aquaculture industries in New Zealand, Australia, Asia and the South Pacific. Prior to this position I spent 7 years as a marine pathologist in the Fish Health Unit of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), in Wellington, New Zealand, and one year as a manager of recreational fisheries for the South Australian Government department Primary Industries and Resources of South Australia. 4. Since the completion of my undergraduate degree in 1991 I have accumulated 20 years experience conducting a wide range of basic and applied science related to the prevention, diagnosis, epidemiology and control of diseases of aquatic organisms including fish (both marine and freshwater species), crustaceans and molluscs. During this time I have worked on projects for local, State and Federal Governments of New Zealand, Australia, the Cook Islands and Brunei-Darussalam, as well as various fisheries and aquaculture industries throughout Australasia, in core business areas that include disease risk analysis, environmental risk assessments, biosecurity assessments, disease diagnosis, and disease control. I have presented invited keynote presentations on risk analysis for aquatic animal diseases at international conferences and published 30 6 . www.digsfish.com scientific papers in the field of aquatic animal health in peer reviewed scientific journals as well as hundreds of other chapters, reports and articles. I also regularly conduct peer reviews for a number of scientific journals, including Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, Journal