But whether the parasite can be kept at bay is a case of ``fingers crossed'', as thousands of tonnes of contaminated oysters are pulled from Stewart Island's Big Glory Bay.
The comment by Graeme Wright, of the Bluff Oyster Management Company, came as the Ministry for Primary Industries yesterday announced fast-tracked tests for the parasite in Bluff's wild oyster beds had come back clean.
Mr Wright said the results were ``fantastic news''.
``It just makes the decision, as tough as it has been, the right one.''
Industry figures would now have their ``fingers crossed'' the preventive measures rolled out by MPI, to try to prevent the parasite's spread, would work.
MPI was doing ``a pretty good job'' to minimise the infection pressure and the chances of the parasite's spread, he said.
``It's a huge job - bigger than most people understood at the start.
``Realistically now we are doing everything we can do, and that's about the best we can do,'' he said.
MPI readiness and response director Geoff Gwyn said in a statement yesterday the ``good news'' test results showed the removal of farmed oysters from Big Glory Bay was ``the right thing to do''.
Testing had been carried out at 11 locations across Foveaux Strait, and all had come back clear, giving MPI ``95% confidence'' the parasite was not present, he said.
MPI had also carried out tests at farms and a hatchery in Horseshoe Bay, a hatchery in Bluff harbour and in Bluff Harbour itself, which also found no trace of the parasite, he said.
The Horseshoe Bay and Bluff Harbour hatchery sites would be incorporated into a monthly testing regime, and testing of the wild Bluff oyster fishery would continue in September, he said.
In the meantime, the removal of farmed oysters in Big Glory Bay was continuing, he said.
The removal of caged oysters from Big Glory Bay finished over the weekend, and attention would turn to ropes of oysters this week, he said.
The removal of caged oysters from Marlborough Sounds would also begin this week, he said.
The progress came after it was confirmed last month the parasite, previously found in the Marlborough Sounds in 2015, had been detected at oyster farms in Stewart Island's Big Glory Bay.
That prompted MPI's decision, announced on June 9, to remove all contaminated oysters from Stewart Island in a bid to prevent the parasite's spread across Foveaux Strait.
