Hello all,
A national taskforce was set up last year to evaluate the response to the
invasion of a marine relative of the zebra mussel -- Mytilopsis sp. that
invaded three marinas in Darwin, northern Australia last year. The
taskforce concluded that we should be at least as prepared for other likely
marine invaders as we were for Mytilopsis. To that end, we (CSIRO's
Center for Research on Introduced Marine Pests) have completed an
extensive literature review of eradication and control approaches to marine
(and some freshwater) pests. The review concentrated on taxa thought
likely to pose the greatest threats to Australia. However, much of the
eradication and control literature (especially from failed eradication
attempts) has never been published.
This message has already been sent to the Aliens and the Marine Pests
mailing lists, sorry for cross postings) in the hope of locating unpublished
results and experiences to update the literature review accordingly. There
is little information on control of polychaete species in the literature with the
exception of boring spionids in shellfish and fouling serpulids, most control
that are not readily transferrable to larger benthic species. The polychaete
section of the literature review focuses on Sabella spallanzanii, a major
fouling species in several locations in Australia.
Geoff Read has already drawn our attention to " a population explosion of
an epifaunal Chaetopterus sp. (similar to "C. variopedatus") of unknown
provenance is currently a problem in Northern New Zealand. " Both NIWA
and others will be working on various aspects of the worm.
Are there other species causing problems out there for which unpublished
data exists and may be useful in developing control responses for
introduced polychaete species in Australia?
The review is available in one or more sections (eg. polychaeta) as
downloadable .pdf files at http://www.marine.csiro.au/CRIMP/Toolbox.html.
If you have difficulty getting in at that level try the CRIMP homepage at
http://www.marine.csiro.au/CRIMP/ (making sure that CRIMP is
capitalised).
Once we have completed the review it will form part of an interactive "Rapid
Response Toolbox" accessible through the web and including information
on the species, eradication attempts, physical and legal constraints and
available experts and suppliers (the latter in Australia only). An interactive
hazard analysis will be included to guide someone through a response to
marine invasion identifying potential hazards and possible responses.
Sounds quite fancy but ultimately its usefullness will depend on the
information that it contains, so please take the time to download the
complete report, or the section on your favorite taxa, check out what we
have found and then correct, update and extend our review.
I look forward to receiving your contributions!
Felicity McEnnulty
Research Assistant for Nic Bax
Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests
CSIRO
GPO Box 1538
Hobart, 7001
Tasmania, Australia
ph. 03 62 325 150
fax 03 62 325 485
felicity.mcennulty at marine.csiro.au
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