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The 14th Australasian Vertebrate Pest Conference in Darwin 10-14 June 2008 will be a major event for pest animal scientists and managers. The program of reviews and symposia will cover areas of interest and significant advances. All conference events will be held in or around SkyCity Casino in Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory.
To register, or find out more, go to http://www.abcon.biz/vertebrate.html
Photo courtesy of NT Tourism.
A new book Managing Bird damage to fruit and other horticultural crops launched today by the Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, Senator Eric Abetz indicates that the cost of birds to the industry is $313 million per annum.
Authors John Tracey, Mary Bomford, Quentin Hart, Glen Saunders and Ron Sinclair have done a brilliant job pulling together a mass of information on birds, the damage they do and what can be done to reduce their impact. What was clear from the seminar leading up to today's launch was that (1) the cost of birds is much higher than most people expected and (2) research into new methods of control has been largely overlooked.
Data indicates that in the nut industry, up to 22% of crops can be lost to bird damage. It seems extraordinary to me so little research has been supported by industry over the years, given the levels of damage reported. Discussion at the seminar tended to indicate that other problems are occupying the attention of horticulturists, most notably at the moment being the lack of water. The problem is also highly variable and caused by a mix of exotic and native species.
The biggest message coming from today's speakers was to take a strategic approach. Simply killing birds is rarely effective. For example, in Africa a billion Quelea (pictured) maybe be killed annually with no discernible impact on the population or the damage they do. This species has been kept as a pet in Australia by the way, although it is thought that none are left in the country. It is certainly a species that import risk assessment should keep out, now that better processes are in place for assessing risk.
Growers should get a hold of a copy of the book, which can obtained for free from the Bureau of Rural Sciences.
At one time the European rabbit was by far the worst environmental and agricultural pest in Australia. Biological control in the 1950s and 1990s gave the country massive relief. In fact, myxomatosis still kills more than 40% of the rabbits born in the country today, some 57 years after its release.
Rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD, formerly called rabbit calicivirus in Australia) gave further relief in the 1990s. The 2001 State of the Environment report noted its importance in restoration of vegetation and there is no doubt had a better starting point for the drought that is still affecting much of the country. These two examples are effectively the only big wins in vertebrate pests for biological control, although it is so important in weed and insect management.
There are two reasons to start looking seriously for new biocontrols now. One is that rabbits still cause massive damage to biodiversity when they are in low numbers. it takes very few rabbits to cause serious damage to plants - see the photos by Dr Brian Cooke that I've just posted. Secondly, we know that rabbit numbers are beginning to build again. It is always better to try for a solution to a problem before it is overwhelming you.
The Land Newspaper led with "DogFight" last week as its headline, even in the face of the ongoing equine influenza outbreak dominating most rural news. It is an indication of the toll taken on graziers when wild dogs are attacking. This particular story came from the north of NSW, but similar cries for help are heard from many places. The Invasive Animals CRC has a project team in place trying to roll out a "nil tenure" appoach to wild dog management whereby control is based on dog ecology and not property ownership. The model has worked well in other places, but in northern NSW the scale of the roll-out is at a completely different level. For example, Project Officer Dr. Guy Ballard of participated in 99 separate meetings in his first five months on the job. I suspect more resources are needed if we are really to get on top of the dog issue.
Download P9020207.JPG The Kimberley Toadbusters are out every weekend (at least) removing toads from the invasive front in the Northern Territory. They can now bring dead toads back into Western Australia and tare making interesting specimens available to researchers. This toad was found highly bloated and was preserved for interested researchers or pathologists to examine.
Perth lawyer Sandy Boulter is passionate about the Kimberley environment and runs Friends of KTB. Her email is sandraboulter@westnet.com.au if you are interested in learning more.
A new report published by the Invasive Animals CRC makes it clear that feral animals represent one of the major threats to biodiversity. The threat posed by pest animals to biodiversity in New South Wales by staff from the Pest Management Unit in the Department of Environment and Climate Change quantifies the specific biodiversity at risk from invasive animals.
Pest animals are the fourth greatest risk to biodiversity in NSW, behind land clearing, altered fire regimes and weeds. They threaten 40 of the threatened biodiversity in the State. This extensive report contains a wealth of information of interest. Copies can be obtained from the Editor, Dr. Wendy Henderson in the CRC office wendy.henderson@invasiveanimals.com
The Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC), a participant in the Invasive Animals CRC, has released an important new book. Fishes of the the Murray-Darling Basin: an Introductory Guide is authored by Mark Lintermans of the Commission and he has done a brilliant job.
The book is extremely well illustrated and will no doubt become a valuable reference guide. It is set out so that the distribution of each species is easy to see and further information sources can be found immediately.
The MDBC is offering the book for free (I rang to check because it is just a beautiful production I couldn't quite believe it) if you ring 02 6279 0434.
Canberra
The Invasive animals CRC will be hosting a workshop and launch of a new book - Managing Bird Damage to Fruit and Horticultural Crops - on 20 September 2007. The Minister for Conservation, Senator Eric Abetz, has kindly agreed to launch the book and will speak on a packed program.
John Tracey from NSW DPI (senior author of the book) will speak as will starling guru Dr. Ron Sinclair from South Australia, Brad Wells from Horticulture Australia and David Lowe from the NSW Wine Industry Association as well as a number of others.
The program is cohosted by the Bureau of Rural Sciences who produced the book, and is at 9.00 for 9.30 at the Theatrette of Parliament House. Everyone is welcome, but you must register with diane.holloway@invasiveanimals.com on 02 6201 2887 for catering purposes. It should be a very useful networking event for anyone with an interest in bird issues.
The five kilometre fence in the heart of Sydney erected for security purposes during the APEC Summit is hardly innovative. The media and public might have adopted the term 'feral fence' for the construction, but 'feral fences' are a long-standing part of the Australian landscape.
The 'dog' or 'dingo' barrier fence that runs from Ceduna in South Australia to outside Surfer's Paradise in Queensland is reasonably well known and the Phil Noyce's 2002 film Rabbit-Proof Fence brought the State Barrier Fence of Western Australia to international attention. Most people I speak to tend to think of the pest animal fences as things of the past but they remain actively maintained at significant cost and in fact there are proposals afoot for more. The Western Australian Pastoralist and Grazier's Association has advocated for a $30 million dog fence across outback WA and there is even a small trial of a cane toad fence at Gregory's Tree in the Northern Territory (pictured).
Fences do still play an important role in feral animal management in Australia. One increasing role is the use of fences on private santuaries to protect species that are vulnerable to feral animal attack.
Join our discussion on the fences that make the so called 'feral fence" at APEC look like a stroll in the park after the 10.00 news on ABC 666 Canberra Mornings with Alex Sloan 5 September.
