Queensland Groper Mortality Investigation Task Force: Report sick or dying groper and finfish

Abstract

Industries and Fisheries (QPIF) has received more than 50 reports of dead Queensland groper (Epinephelus Ianceolatus) on beaches and in waterways between Cooktown and Cairns. Reports have also been received from the Cardwell, Mackay, Mission Beach, Burdekin and Bowen areas. Testing has found the bacterium, Streptococcus agalactiae, to have caused fatal blood-poisoning in some of these fish. This is first time this bacteria has been found in sick fish in Australia. It has been linked to fish deaths in the Middle East, the United States and Thailand. QPIF wants to know how widespread the bacteria is, how it is transmitted, if environmental factors are involved, and why Queensland groper in the coastal north Queensland region appear to be susceptible to the bacteria.