Biosecurity Matters, Edition 3, 2020

Wayne See Kee, head of Science and Surveillance Group, says this work helps ensure traps are in the right places and to identify risk areas where mosquitos or other exotic pests, diseases or weeds might establish. It also helps prepare for potential future incursions of exotic pests, diseases or weeds at these sites.

‘The surveys are part of our broader biosecurity work and ensure exotic species are detected and eradicated before they can affect our unique biodiversity and the agriculture sector.’

‘The samples collected will keep our staff busy for some time as they continue with pest, disease and weed diagnostic work,’ Mr See Kee said.

Also since March, the department has redeployed almost 400 biosecurity officers from airports into a diverse range of roles. The officers are now helping with mail and cargo inspections, which have seen an increase in activity during the pandemic due to more online shopping. They have also moved to other biosecurity operation areas such as science and surveillance, assessments and audit.

‘While initially, this was a challenge for all of us to respond to. We can now reflect that it provides long-term lessons on the value of having a flexible workforce and multi-skilled people,’ Mr See Kee said.

‘Indeed, we’ve seen this right across the public service during these unprecedented times.’

Learn more about pest and disease surveillance at Australia’s borders.

Recent projects have included DNA fingerprinting for imported dogs, which will aim to improve how we verify compliance with our import conditions.

Another will look into the use of virtual reality to train our biosecurity officers and using remote sensing technologies, such as drones, to identify and quantify feral pig populations.

‘We are building on the success of our 3D X-rays at airports and mail centres via a project that will allow them to automatically detect seeds — this will be a world first for biosecurity,’ Ms Geiger said.

Industry partners include innovators from the business sector, universities and research entities.

‘We must work smarter and more efficiently, so we can continue protecting our industries, environment and trade from growing biosecurity threats,’ Ms Geiger said.

Biosecurity Industry Innovation Challenge

The department also collaborated with the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) to host the fully virtual Biosecurity Industry Innovation Challenge in May this year. The event provided a platform for start-ups, SMEs, researchers, businesses and people with entrepreneurial potential to ask questions and propose solutions.

The event centred on 4 key challenges: audits, treatment verification, exotic invasive ants and container traceability.

Three of the proposals received $50,000 in funding from the department to conduct feasibility studies and test their ideas:

• SensaData will adapt pre-commercial gas monitoring Smart-r-Tag IoT solutions to the requirements of our fumigation processes.
• Zirkarta will expand on and re-purpose the Zirkarta real-time communication platform. This will test whether changes to the platform can assist with remote auditing.
• The Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry will examine ant pheromones. This is aimed at identifying key resources, equipment and material requirements for further development and pilots.

If you want to share an idea or learn more, visit biosecurity innovation on The Seed.

NAQS botanists thought the plant looked like an Australian native species of Solanum, the same genus as tomatoes and potatoes in Family Solanaceae. But without a herbarium specimen they could not be sure. They forwarded the photos to the Solanaceae taxonomist at Queensland Herbarium.

The taxonomist’s initial response was that it looked like Solanum melanospermum, a plant native to the Northern Territory and considered ‘endemic’ to the Borroloola to Bing Bong region of the NT and agreed the only way to be certain of the identity was to inspect a herbarium specimen. However, there were no validated records of this species occurring in Queensland.

‘Our NAQS officers worked remotely with the Wellesley Island Rangers to collect a herbarium specimen. The dried specimen was later transported to the Cairns lab by a visiting NAQS Community Liaison Officer to be prepared for transport to the herbarium,’ Mr See Kee said.

The Queensland Herbarium confirmed the specimen as Solanum melanospermum, noting it was an excellent match with other specimens from the Bing Bong area held at Queensland Herbarium.

‘While it is an Australian native, this species isn’t native to Mornington Island.’

‘It’s thorny and could potentially be spread by birds and mammals. In other parts of Australia, other introduced species of Solanum have become significant weeds,’ Mr See Kee said.

This is the first authenticated record of this species from Queensland and will be kept in the herbarium’s collection.

Wellesley Island Rangers continue to look out for this species and for any other weeds which may have inadvertently been introduced to Mornington Island.

‘This is an excellent example of the benefits of collaborating with ranger groups who are keeping an eye out for new pests, diseases and weeds on their country,’ according to Mr See Kee.

‘The rangers received training in collecting herbarium specimens and had received a plant press and other equipment as part of the NAQS Community Engagement and Indigenous Biosecurity Ranger program.’

‘Identifying this unknown weed is a significant achievement. Particularly in the face of factors outside of our control like Tropical Cyclone Esther in the Wellesley Islands in late February and the challenges caused by COVID-19,’ Mr See Kee said.

Learn more about the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy.

To combat this increased risk, while maintaining the smooth processing of cargo, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment implemented some important new measures this season.

‘To manage the BMSB risk offshore as much as possible we approved and registered 216 offshore treatment providers. This was done in conjunction with our New Zealand counterparts. It allowed us to implement mandatory offshore treatment for break bulk and flat rack/open top containers for the 2019–20 season.’

‘As a result, 65,493 containers/break bulk items — over 40% of containers subject to BMSB — were treated offshore. This meant they were not subject to local BMSB intervention and sped up clearance times in Australia,’ Ms O’Connell said.

SeaPest, a new system the department developed to manage Less than Container Load (LCL)/Freight of All Kinds (FAK) consignments at the container level. This has helped process 11,247 containers and removed the need to manage 42,993 LCL consignments. These would have otherwise been subject to BMSB intervention.

The department undertook 257 seasonal pest inspections of vessels. This resulted in 3 vessels being turned around due to detections of live BMSB and other hitchhiker pests.

‘We saw a marked reduction in BMSB detections — from 63 post-biosecurity detections in 2018–19 down to 18 for the 2019–20 season. This is an impressive figure, given that risk has increased. Most notably, only 4 of these detections were of live BMSB, compared to 31 live post-biosecurity detections in 2018–19,’ Ms O’Connell said.

BMSB poses a very significant threat to Australia’s $24.6 billion agriculture, horticulture and grain export industries.

‘I’d like to thank industry for a great season, but also for ensuring that goods are imported free of biosecurity risk material throughout the year, not just during periods of heightened seasonal measures.’

‘This is a great example of how industry partnerships generate fantastic results,’ Ms O’Connell said.

The department is currently finalising proposed measures for the 2020–21 BMSB season. Updates will be published via an Industry Advice Notice and on our BMSB webpage.

The head of Plant Import Operations, Bussakorn Mpelasoka, said these improvements will enhance the way we test imported strawberry tissue culture for biosecurity risks.

‘They will also have the additional benefit of accelerating industry’s access to imported plant material,’ Dr Mpelasoka said.

Roger Broadley from the Queensland Strawberry Growers’ Association said the reduced time in government post-entry quarantine is significant.

‘Importantly, it also ensures that the Australian strawberry industry will not be afflicted by the introduction of new pathogens into this country,’ Mr Broadley said.

These changes will come into effect by 30 June 2020. To be notified of the change in BICON, register to receive the alert.

This review was part of the Accelerating Horticultural Market Access Project and the Australian Government’s commitment to enhancing Australia’s agricultural trade.

For more information, email us your query.

‘Bolstering our surveillance capacity is having positive effect on detection of exotic pest species such as trapping ants and providing valued response to ground surveys for mosquitoes, botanical surveys and general surveillance,’ Mr Hawe said.

Overall, the feedback from officers has been positive and encouraging.

‘My redeployment has given me the opportunity to learn new skills and become accredited in Imported Foods. It has been a steep learning curve and chance to get out of my comfort zone and try something new,’ said Julie Payne in Sydney.

‘I’m thankful to the team I’ve been assigned to work with. They’ve made me feel welcome from the very start and eased any apprehension I had coming into the redeployment,’ Ms Payne continued.

35 staff accepted redeployment to Services Australia to process JobSeeker claims.

‘It has been a big change, I used to do 30,000 steps each day and work in shifts and now I sit at a computer in an office Monday to Friday,’ said Officer Bayliss, currently working at Services Australia in Brisbane.

‘I wanted to help out and do my bit. This has been a big life event for so many, and I am proud that I can do my bit for my fellow Australians by providing a vital service,’ Mr Bayliss said.

Detector Dogs, formerly providing vital biosecurity detection capability at international airports, have also had to adjust to the reduced passenger activity.

With recent implementation of the 2020 mail profiles, and maintaining vigilance on the risk of African swine fever, our dogs are actively screening mail. Additionally, preparation for the next brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) season is well advanced with the dogs maintaining their training and detection capability, including extending to the broader cargo and military aircraft hangar environment.

While obviously effective in detecting biosecurity risk with arriving international travellers, our detector dogs are equally proficient and adaptable at screening and sniffing out pest and disease risks within other pathways.

Find out more about biosecurity in Australia.

On 2 June, department entomologists teamed-up with National Border Surveillance staff to deploy baited (sausage and sugar syrup) ant traps on and around the vessel. The traps successfully detected live Pheidole parva specimens aboard. No ants were noted in the traps outside of the vessel.

Two live specimens of the exotic spider, Coleosoma floridanum, were also collected in the galley of the vessel.

The treatment is now complete and post treatment surveillance indicates it has been effective.

Find out more about biosecurity requirements for non-commercial vessels.