GRCConference
AttendanceReport
5th Queensland Pest Animal Symposium,
Townsville, 07/11/2016 - 10/11/2016
To provide Gladstone Regional Council's management sector with monthly statistical
information in the area of Conferences and the Organisational benefit.
Report written by; Josh Dyke and Glenn Cox
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
1.0
Conference Synopsis ............................................................................................................. 2
2.0
Key Learnings from each session attended or speaker session.............................................. 2
3.0
One thing you will use as a result of your learnings .............................................................. 5
4.0
One thing that the organisation could use to improve its operations .................................. 5
5.0
Conference attendance costs ................................................................................................ 6
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1.0
Conference Synopsis
This report summarises key notes and main themes presented at the Queensland Pest Animal
Symposium (the Symposium) held in Townsville from 7th November to 10th November 2016. The
Symposium was attended by two members of the Gladstone Regional Council's Pest Management
Unit, being Josh Dyke (Pest Management Coordinator) and Glenn Cox (Pest Management Officer).
The theme of the Symposium was 'Options. Obstacles. Outcomes' and provided attendees with an
opportunity to:
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Learn from other organisations about their on-ground pest animal management challenges
and solutions in the current environmental and political climate;
Hear of new results and products from research organisations, government organisations
and companies;
Present pest animal management experiences and successes with other participants; and
Inform policy makers, scientists, extension officers and trainers about priorities.
The Symposium was well attended with over 100 participants from a diverse range of organisations,
including representatives from Queensland Government, Queensland Local Government, New South
Wales Local Government, Northern Territory Government, Agricultural reference groups (AgForce),
Water Authorities (Gladstone Water Area Board) and private enterprise (grazing industry, sugar cane
industry, chemical companies, etc.).
2.0
Key Learnings from each session attended or speaker session
The Symposium comprised of 2 days of classroom lectures and a 1 day field trip. During these three
days, a number of sessions were presented on a range of pest animal topics.
Summarised below are a selection of key sessions that provided interest to Gladstone Regional
Council's Pest Management Unit.
 Rabbits, Red Tape and Resouring: Registering and releasing the biocontrol agent RDHV K5
(Tarnya Cox, NSW Department of Primary Industries)
Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) has been used as a biocontrol agent to manage feral
rabbits in Australia since 1995. In 2009, the RHD-Boost project team (headed by NSW DPI) began the
process of importing and evaluating additional strains of RHDV with the aim to improve rabbit
biocontrol. In 2013 the process to register and release an additional strain of RHDV (K5 strain)
began. Unexpected obstacles and a reduction in field staff led to a delay in releasing the new strain
of RHDV. To improve resourcing, the RHD-Boost project team requested community support to
conduct nation-wide monitoring, which has greatly enhanced benefits from a community, economic
and scientific perspective. Releases RHDV (K5 strain) are planned for 2016 across Australia.
The new strain of RDHV has a number of advantages over the currently available strains of RHDV,
including less immunity among rabbit populations; and ability to control kittens (juvenile rabbits)
(kittens are immune to the currently available strain of RHDV).
The presentation offered an insight into additional biocontrol agents for rabbits being investigated
and further supported Gladstone Regional Council's 'Calicivirus (RHDV) Release Program' by
recommending releases in summer periods when kitten populations are low.
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 Preliminary investigations into Chital Deer (Axis axis) home range and habitat preferences
near Charters Towers, Queensland (Matt Amos and Tony Pople, Biosecurity Queensland)
Chital deer are well established in an area north of Charters Towers and have been present for the
last 130 years. In recent times there have been anecdotal reports of chital deer increasing in density
and spatial distribution in this area. Concern over high deer numbers affecting cattle production in
dry times and the added pressure of illegal hunting has prompted some land managers to undertake
control programs.
In August 2013 a pilot study was commenced to increase the knowledge of chital deer ecology to
assist the planning of effective control programs. Much of northern Australia is climatically suitable
for chital, but they are patchily distributed in the region suggesting only certain environments may
be at risk of invasion. These areas could obviously be targeted for control.
Five chital deer were sedated and fitted with Sirtrack® G2C Wildlife GPS tracking collars on one
property ~100 km north of Charters Towers. Collars were deployed for six months with a recording
rate of 16 GPS points/day. The deer displayed reasonably small home ranges (865 – 4,655 ha 95%
MCP) considering the dry environment in which they were located. Movements nevertheless
spanned more than a single property, highlighting the need for any management to be cooperative.
They also showed habitat preferences for certain vegetation/soil type communities (e.g. narrow
leaved ironbark). These habitat preferences shown by individuals were consistent with the
distribution of the population among habitats based on vehicle surveys along property tracks.
Gladstone Regional Council has several small populations of feral deer throughout the region;
therefore this presentation offered a good insight into feral deer ecology and the need for
management activities to focus on vegetation communities.
 Biological Control of Tilapia: A potential virus (Agus Sunarto and Kenneth McColl, CSIRO)
Originating in Africa, Tilapia have been farmed in over 135 countries with global production
estimated at 4.5 million MT and valued at US$7.5 billion. By contrast Tilapia are considered an
invasive species in Australia. The species is currently a major problem in north Queensland rivers,
but the real danger is that they now occur close to the headwaters of the Murray-Darling Basin
(MDB); gaining access to the MDB would be catastrophic.
Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) may offer a broad-scale effective control measure for tilapia in Australia.
Safety (species- specificity) and efficacy (virulence and transmission), two major concerns for a
successful biocontrol virus, need to be taken into consideration before the use of any exotic
biocontrol virus is considered. TiLV causes disease outbreaks in wild and commercial tilapia farms,
dropping the annual yield of tilapia by as much as 85%. The disease is contagious and spread through
a waterborne route. Based on extensive experience with cyprinid herpesvirus 3 as a potential
biocontrol virus for carp, TiLV is considered as a potential biocontrol agent for Tilapia in Australia
and is currently being investigated in Australia and Indonesia.
Gladstone Regional Council has known infestations of Tilapia within several Gladstone city
catchments. Gladstone Regional Council will monitor the study, and if released for trial purposes,
will request a trial release to occur within the Gladstone Regional Council local government area.
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 Marine Pest Management in Queensland (Anita Ramage, Biosecurity Queensland)
In July 2016, new biosecurity legislation commenced in Queensland that provides stronger legislative
support for dealing with marine pests in Queensland waters and facilitates more risk-based
management responses. This new Biosecurity Act 2014 places more onus on risk creators to manage
risks associated with marine pests. This is intricately linked to the concept of shared responsibility
and the general biosecurity obligation that applies to everyone to manage marine pest risks. The
new regulations provide more flexibility in how marine pest risks can be dealt with and allow for
prioritisation of resource allocation to the highest risk areas to achieve the best use of those
resources and protect Queensland’s economy and environment from the threats posed by marine
pests.
Marine pest biosecurity, specifically prevention and surveillance, was also identified in a review of
Queensland’s biosecurity capability as an area requiring greater attention and investment. A
resulting allocation of funding to implement recommendations of the review presents an
opportunity to strengthen marine pest biosecurity in Queensland through the establishment of a
marine pest biosecurity program. The program aims to provide leadership and coordinate marine
pest preparedness and post-border prevention efforts in Queensland. Creating a marine biosecurity
function will help Queensland move from responsive management to proactively protecting
Queensland’s resources from the risk of marine pest incursions. The proposed program is consistent
with current national marine pest initiatives in dealing with this important national issue.
The presentation offered an insight into activities that Biosecurity Queensland is undertaking in
relation to marine pests. Marine pests are an important topic for Gladstone Regional Council as the
region accommodates a number of international vessels, which increases the risk of marine pest
introduction. Furthermore, conflicting jurisdiction in marine areas has the potential to impact the
identification of, and response to marine pest incursions.
 Water point traps to capture feral pigs and feral goats at a landscape scale to protect
endangered species (John Scriven, Queensland Murray Darling Committee)
Feral pigs and goats are a threat to Malleefowl in Central Western New South Wales. QMDC in
collaboration with Australian Government Biodiversity Fund and Invasive Animal CRC constructed
trap yards around watering points to catch feral pigs and goats. Both the Scriven Pig Trap Gates and
ramp gates were used. Targeting watering points has the potential to be the most efficient and
economical way to reduce the impact of feral pigs and goats on Malleefowl over a large area in arid
areas.
Gladstone Regional Council is impacted by a number of feral pig populations through the region; this
presentation provided Council's Pest Management Officer with an alternative trap design which
could be more effective at catching feral pigs in the region.
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3.0
One thing you will use as a result of your learnings
A key theme at the Symposium was the conflicting ideologies regarding wild dog management
throughout the landscape. A number of well-known wild dog researchers have suggested that
stakeholder's are inefficiently allocating resources towards wild dog management, particular 1080
baiting. This statement specifically revolves around the researches belief that wild dog impacts are
negligible on the cattle industry, and the small amount of direct impacts from wild dogs (cattle
marking) do not equal the resources it takes to undertake wild dog control activities, i.e. benefits do
not equal the costs. While these comments are not accepted by the larger agricultural community,
there seems to be some sound evidence to support these claims.
Until further research is undertaken, Gladstone Regional Council will use these comments as a
foundation to amend the 'minimum standards for invasive species management in Gladstone
Regional Council' document. As a result Gladstone Regional Council will not undertake any
compliance activities against landholders under the Biosecurity Act 2014 who do not undertake wild
dog management activities within the region.
4.0
One thing that the organisation could use to improve its
operations
One presentation from the Symposium which can be incorporated into Gladstone Regional Council's
Pest Management Program was the use of 'paid' social media to disseminate extension information
to the general public. In the presentation 'Building and Maintaining Awareness of a Pest Animal, in
this case Electric Ant, in a long term eradication program', Biosecurity Queensland utilised Facebook
to disseminate extension information to a greater audience using "boosted posts". By using this
method, Biosecurity Queensland was able to more cost efficiently engage with the general public
using Facebook as a media platform over more traditional media platforms, i.e. television, radio and
door knocks.
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Plate 1 - Media engagement comparisons in respect to the Electric Ant Eradication Program
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Gladstone Regional Council's Pest Management Unit has already started utilising Facebook's
"boosted posts" for a number of extension activities, including the Annual Pest Management Survey
and January 2017's Wild Dog Trapping Workshops. Results from this form of engagement have been
promising, with an increase of 15% respondents indicating that the received the information through
Facebook.
5.0 Conference attendance costs
Two delegates from the Gladstone Regional Council Pest Management Unit attended the 2016
Queensland Pest Animal Symposium. The total cost of sending the two delegates equated to
approximately $3,146 (cost breakdown shown below).
Conference Registration Fee:
Travel Costs:
Accommodation:
Sundries:
$ 695
$ 1,154
$ 1,166
$ 131
TOTAL COST:
$ 3,146
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