Overview
The South Australian Murray-Darling Basin NRM region is a vast and complex catchment with a wide variety of landscapes and agricultural uses including:
- Arid grazing regions to the north
- Diverse agricultural and horticultural industries along the River Murray and Lower Lakes
- Broad acre cropping and pasture systems of the Murray Mallee
- Grazing, dairying and horticultural industries in the high rainfall regions of the eastern Mt Lofty Ranges
Each of the land uses is subject to differing detrimental impacts from pest plants and animals. Weeds alone cost Australian agriculture $4.2 billion per annum and an estimated $2.5 billion to the environment (Sindon et al, 2004),with vertebrae pests impacting on our industries Australia wide to the tune of $720 million per annum (Mcleod 2004).
A significant number of plant and animal species have been introduced to the River Murray Catchment and now compete with native species along the river corridor, catchment tributaries and dry land areas.
The continued introduction of new pests and the risk of rapid spread of serious pests affect the region and its community in a number of ways.
Primarily it affects the productivity and sustainability of farming enterprises; through direct production losses and/or potential restrictions in trade.
It also seriously impacts on our fragile ecological native vegetation systems.
However, from a planning point of view it constantly places the land manager or Board in a situation where it has to consider diverting its already scarce resources away from historical programs to counter the new threat.
Infestations that become more widespread and therefore become practically and economically more difficult to control, will constantly need to be reviewed from both the land manager and the Board’s perspective. Therefore, preventing the establishment of identified high risk pests should always be the highest priority.
To minimize future detrimental impacts on the regions landscape, economy and community existing pest populations need to be rigorously assessed and regularly prioritised so that the community has access to the most cost effective management options.
The key to preventing these identified pest species from becoming a widespread reality is increased education and awareness. The community must be made aware of the species of most concern and be encouraged to follow practices that reduce the risk of them being introduced and becoming widespread.
Therefore the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board will provide the community updated Pest management information that will assist with the identification of key pest species.