At 18:00 21/02/2001 +1100, Brian Everingham wrote:
You might remember the series of emails regarding the salvinia infestation
at Longneck Lagoon some time back. I wrote as Secretary of the National
Parks Association to the Director, Central NPWS, Bob Conroy making some
inquiries and he has now replied.
In his response he states that:
1. The NPWS has commenced management of this weed and is presently
finalising a Review of Environmental Factors document. This must consider
the requirements of the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act, 1999.
2. The presence of the weed and the proposed control methodology have both
support and opposition from within the community.
3. The long term impact of the use of herbicide in the Lagoon in particular
has to be properly assessed.
4. The eradication of salvinia in this waterbody is not expected to be easy.
5. The proposed methodology involves mechanical harvesting to reduce the wed
biomass followed by the application of a specific (unstated) herbicide to
the remaining weed. There will then follow an intensive monitoring
commitment and "spot" action against any remaining weed presence.
6. The control of the weed within the catchment is also being pursued by the
NPWS.
Brian,
I was recently in Kenya. In an airline magazine they had an article about
the successful eradication of an aquatic weed on Lake Victoria that had
covered very large areas and was bad enough to shut down villages as
ferries and fishermen could no longer operate. I think from memory that
the weed was salvinia that had been released accidentally on a river in
Uganda and been spread down river to the lake. They had planned to use
mechanical means (but did not have the money) and / or herbicide (but were
very worried about the affect on other organisms). Both these methods
would only have controlled it temporarily and would need to be reapplied
every few years or so.
Their solution was from Australia through the release of a beetle which had
been used in Australia to control the weed. I think that they received the
help from the CSIRO. This solution was permanent as small amounts of the
weed persisted and continued to host the beetle which prevented any further
major outbreaks. Have the NPWS tried any form of biological control?
________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://www.iinet.net.au/~foconnor
8C Hardy Road Email :
Nedlands WA 6009 ICQ : 14655047
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