Interest in carp project grows

The project leader of a $15-million National Carp Control Plan has given assurances that comprehensive research and riskassessment will determine whether using a virus to control invasive carp is safe and effective.

Plan co-ordinator Matt Barwick, responding to fears outlined in scientific journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, said he welcomed the international interest.

But he added the National Carp Control Plan would involve two years of research, risk assessment and community consultation to develop and a clear understanding of all issues.

“It is absolutely vital that we understand and can manage risks associated with the possible release of a virus into our waterways,” he said.

“The issues discussed in the journal are already being addressed under the plan. There is nothing new here. In fact, the points raised reinforce those that are being voiced at community forums across the country.”

The Wimmera River system, home to a significant biomass of noxious carp, has been flagged as one of many potential waterways suitable for release of the virus.

Senior research associate Dr Jackie Lighten and Professor Cock van Oosterhout from the United Kingdom’s University of East Anglia’s School of Environmental Sciences warned a release of Koi Herpes Virus might pose a risk to global food security and threaten native species.

“The release of KHV to eradicate carp has been described as a safe, efficient, and manageable process,” Dr Lighten said.

“However, the plans have been met with mixed feelings in both the academic and public communities within Australia and around the globe.”

Concerns

She and Professor Oosterhout outlined four main concerns they had about the viral release. These were the inability to rule out the evolution of the virus to cause disease in Australian species; the largescale release of a virus posing a global food-security risk; tons of rotting fish leading to serious physiological impacts on ecosystems; and carp ability to bounce back strongly with viral resistance after a population crash.

Professor Oosterhout said KHV was an efficient killer of common carp.

“Carp is one of the most farmed fish in the world and an important source of protein in lower to middle income countries, so is vital to food security,” he said.

“KHV is on the World Organisation of Animal Health list of notifiable diseases, and although the virus has been detected in many different species from invertebrates to fish, so far disease symptoms have only been observed in carp.

“But we question whether the release of a highly contagious virus into Australian waterways can really be managed as simply as proposed.”

Mr Barwick said no-one was shying away from the fact there would literally be a ‘big stink’ if the virus was successfully introduced.

“If the virus didn’t kill large numbers of carp, it wouldn’t be successful,” he said.

Mr Barwick said the NCCP was more about improving the aquatic Australian environments than simply killing carp.

“It is about ensuring the $13 billion dollars being spent in the Murray Darling Basin to improve environmental outcomes does just that,” he said.