Australia backs down on salmon imports

By Boyd Champness

AUSTRALIA has been forced to lift its 24-year ban on uncooked salmon imports for fear of trade retaliation from Canada.

The Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) announced last week that chilled and frozen salmon would be allowed in, with guidelines stipulating the imported fish be headed, gutted, washed and inspected.

Canada had threatened to slap a 100% surtax on A$60 million (£25m) worth of imports of Australian lamb, grapes, beef, grains, sugar and other commodities if Australia did not lift the ban by 6 July, as ordered by the World Trade Organisation.

Canada is now likely to drop its WTO action against Australia.

But Australias salmon growers are considering a legal challenge. They say the measures pose a threat to their A$120 million (£49m) industry and are similar to allowing foot and mouth into Australia, according to a report in The Weekly Times.

Tasmanian Salmon Growers Association chairman Richard Doedens told the newspaper that the industrys biggest fear was infectious salmon anaemia, which had caused major problems in salmon farms in Scotland and Canada.

He said AQIS had failed to understand that the risk of disease was even greater in Australia because of warmer water and the lack of immunity.

“The AQIS conclusions rewrite the quarantine rules in Australia,” he told the newspaper.

“They will create a serious precedent that will flow to other imported products such as meat, chicken and other seafood.”