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Feral Herald ISSN 1449-891X Newsletter of the Invasive Species Council Working to Stop Further Invasions Volume 1, Issue 3, April 2003

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Feral Herald ISSN 1449-891X Newsletter of the Invasive Species Council Working to Stop Further Invasions Volume 1, Issue 3, April 2003 Feral Herald ISSN 1449-891X Newsletter of the Invasive Species Council Working to stop further invasions Volume 1, Issue 3, April 2003 In the last issue of Ferald Herald Gaping Holes in the (December 2002) we reported on saltgrass (Distichlis spicata) - a significant weed Weed Screen overseas that NyPA International wants to promote in Australia Tim Low as a turf for saline sites. The South Australian govern- In 1997 Australia introduced Weed Risk Assessment ment still has not decided if it will permit (WRA), a process for assessing the weed risk posed by new cultivation of this plants. WRA is a series of 49 questions asked of any new invasive plant, plant proposed for import. Questions include is it toxic, is it although a decision is aquatic, is it a grass? If a plant scores ‘yes’ too many times it imminent. But our is forbidden entry. WRA is applied to any new plants that pursuit of this issue has brought to light nurseries, pasture scientists or anyone else wants to bring another matter, of into the country. Because it is more stringent than the very grave concern systems most countries use, WRA has won much praise here (see story at right), and overseas. which raises serious But WRA is not operating as it should. Hundreds of doubts about the way in which our weeds may be imported legally into Australia without any quarantine service assessment whatever. The system is so flawed it raises operates. serious questions about the competence and commitment of our quarantine service. WRA is applied only to new plants, not to species Invasive Species already in Australia. Most foreign plants already in the Council Inc. country (cultivated plants and weeds) appear either on a ARBN 101 522 829 permitted (white) list or a prohibited (black) list. Regrett- ably, these lists are not available for public scrutiny. PO Box 571, Collins St. West, Vic. 8007 However, anyone can find out if they may import a specific [email protected] plant merely by visiting the appropriate AQIS web page (www.aqis.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex_querycontent.asp) and www.invasives.org.au typing the plant’s name into their import conditions (ICON) database. The database lists the import conditions for more Tim Low, editor [email protected]. than 18,000 foreign plant, animal, mineral and human au commodities. One anomaly of the system is that it does not prohibit Views expressed in this weeds already in Australia, except under limited newsletter by outside experts are not always circumstances. Anyone may, for example, import the seeds those of the ISC of stinging nettles (Urtica urens), paspalum (Paspalum dilatatum), chickweed (Stellaria media), cobbler’s pegs (Bidens pilosa) and blackberry nightshade (Solanum nigrum), Invasive Species Council Working to Stop Further Invasions not to mention madeira vine (Anredera cordifolia) and ivy (all Hedera species), provided the seeds are clean of Contents impurities. If, for example, you type Urtica urens into the ICON website you are told: Tilapia……………4 “Non-commercial consignments of seed of this New Shrew …….5 species may be permitted entry into Australia subject to inspection on arrival. Seed must be free from soil, live Ballast…..………6 insects, plant material (e.g. fruit pulp, leaf or stem material, etc), contamination with prohibited seeds and packed in new Fouled Hulls …..8 containers that are clearly labelled with the botanical Marine Database name.” ……….9 This anomaly exists because Australia is a signatory to the World Trade Organization Agreement on the Application of Weed Alert …..10 Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (the ‘SPS Agreement’). Under this agreement weeds already in a country may be Sandbox Tree...12 banned only if their distribution is limited and they are National Weeds subject to an ‘official control program’, or if an importer Conference.…..13 wants to introduce a new strain that differs genetically such that it poses a greater weed risk than existing strains. Letter to editor Unfortunately, the Australian quarantine service seldom uses ……..15 even these limited provisions to ban existing weeds. ISC in The Age…16 ______________________ Membership “Anyone may, for example, import the seeds of Form….16 stinging nettles” ____________________ Secondly, and even more seriously, many thousands of foreign plants not yet found in Australia - including serious weeds – can bypass weed risk assessment because they have found their way onto the permitted list. In the case of grasses (one of the most invasive of all ISC WEBSITE plant groups) the ICON database shows that many genera are permitted entry without WRA. For example, for saltgrass The ISC now has a (Distichlis spicata), the ICON database shows that one may website up and bring in not only Distichlis spicata but every related grass in running, by courtesy genus Distichlis, provided the proper protocols, such as of ISC member ensuring the seeds are free of contaminants, are followed. Stephen Page, of The same is true of many other weedy grass genera. Talkin’ Technical Communications in Genus Brachiaria contains about a hundred different grasses, Melbourne. mostly native to Africa, and including several weeds in Australia such as para grass (Brachiaria mutica), a major Please bookmark and invader of tropical wetlands. But according to the ICON visit the ISC site at: database, only three species of Brachiaria are prohibited www.invasives.org.au entry (and para grass is not one of them). All the rest may be legally imported, provided the seed is clean of impurities, without WRA, even if they are major weeds overseas. This loophole has arisen for the following reasons. In the days before WRA was introduced, pasture researchers imported seeds of various grasses for research. At that time Feral Herald volume 1 issue 3 - April 2003 page 2 Invasive Species Council Working to Stop Further Invasions Pigs in the no-one considered whether the grasses would become weeds; the only concern was that imported seed might harbour Jungle impurities, such as fungal infections, insects and certain weed seeds. So AQIS devised a set of protocols, outlining the treatments and standards to be met by anyone importing the The rainforests in seeds. To save time and trouble for AQIS and their clients, north Queensland are AQIS declared that the protocols developed for one species full of pigs. The Wet of Distichlis or Brachiaria would apply to other plants in that Tropics World genus. Because these protocols existed, these genera were Heritage Area is thought to have 20 placed on the permitted list. The same process was applied to 000 to 30 000 of garden plants. Once a protocol was developed for one them, living in the species, the whole genus usually ended up on the white list. lowland rainforests at So how many genera does the white (permitted) list densities of 2.2 per contain? Rod Randall of the Western Australian Department square kilometre. of Agriculture says there are more than 3,000 – a number so They feed mainly on vast it makes a nonsense of WRA. Included are most genera plants and of garden plants and crop plants in Australia, many of which earthworms, and include weedy species, for example Brassica and Portulaca. radiotracking studies ______________________ show they rarely need range more than a kilometre from the “Weed Risk Assessment needs an urgent centre of their home overhaul.” ranges. In their ____________________ droppings they spread the seeds of When Weed Risk Assessment was introduced in 1997 weeds such as pond the federal government realised these genera required apple, sometimes up to 10 kilometres from attention. A consultant was engaged to go through the white the parent tree. As list and recommend species and genera for removal. But so many as 288 pond far, almost no changes to the list have been made. apple seeds have Another problem, says Randall, is that many plants in been found in one pig the ICON database are misspelt, or listed under antiquated dropping. Feral pigs names. The prickly pear genus, for example, appears as also threaten rare Upuntia as well as Opuntia. species, including Another weakness is that prohibited plants can gain cassowaries and rare entry when an importer lists them under outdated names. plants, and they Mexican feather grass (Nasella tenuissima), a weedy relative damage the rainforest of serrated tussock (N. trichotoma) - one of our 20 worst understory when they grub up tubers and weeds - was allowed in because the importer unwittingly worms. used an old name: Stipa tenuissima. Stipa is a permitted genus, Nasella is not. Weed Risk Assessment needs an urgent overhaul. Based on a report in: Whole groups of plants, including serious weeds, need not go Technical Highlights: through WRA for reasons that have nothing to do with their Weed and Pest Animal weed status. WRA was never meant to operate like this. Reseach 2001-2002. Queensland The ISC has written to the Chief of Biosecurity Department of Natural Australia, Mary Harwood, raising questions about the Resources and Mines. operation of WRA. Feral Herald volume 1 issue 3 - April 2003 page 3 Invasive Species Council Working to Stop Further Invasions Tilapia into the Gulf to be stopped? Barry Traill Readers may recall from the last newsletter that the ISC and other conservation organisations had been seeking the fixture of netting to stop the noxious fish Tilapia from entering the rivers of the Gulf Country in far north Queensland. Tilapia currently occur in the Tinaroo Falls Dam on the coast flowing Barron River, multiplying there after escaping from a fish farm several years ago. Irrigation water is pumped across a low divide into the catchments of the Walsh and Mitchell rivers which flow westwards into the Gulf of Carpentaria. The rivers of the Gulf have diverse and intact fish faunas and support important commercial and amateur fisheries.
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