Plant Protection News - April 2010

An email newsletter from the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer

In this issue:

National Plant Health Status Report released

The National Plant Health Status Report was released in March 2010. The report provides readers with a revised and updated synopsis of Australia’s plant biosecurity system for 2008-09. It covers a wide range of information, including:

  • the plant pests of significant concern to Australian plant industries
  • the organisations and processes involved in managing the pest status of Australia’s agricultural and forestry industries
  • innovative plant health research projects currently being undertaken by research organisations and universities

Plant Health Australia compiled the report with contributions, input and advice from Australia’s key plant biosecurity stakeholders.

National Plant Health Status Report

Biosecurity engagement guidelines released

Policy makers, managers and engagement practitioners in agencies responsible for biosecurity can now refer to a resource to help them better engage with communities on biosecurity matters. The resource ‘Biosecurity engagement guidelines: practical advice for involving communities’ was released in March 2010. It explains how effective community engagement in biosecurity can be undertaken and is based on practical experiences within Australia.

Policy makers and managers can refer to the guidelines to help them:

  • better understand how engagement works
  • find out how to get value for money
  • recognise potential problems and strategies to address them
  • identify possible gaps and opportunities for improvement when delivering regional biosecurity plans

Engagement practitioners may be interested in the tips and ideas on how to communicate with stakeholders and recognise and address potential pitfalls.

The Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer commissioned the Bureau of Rural Sciences to develop the guidelines for its Engaging in Biosecurity project. This project aims to develop a biosecurity engagement framework (in association with landholders, industry and local communities) for detection and surveillance of exotic pest incursions to enhance on-farm biosecurity. The guidelines were developed with the assistance of six horticultural regions undertaking community biosecurity engagement programs.

Biosecurity engagement guidelines: practical advice for involving communities 2010

Towards a national fruit fly trapping dataset

Work is underway to bring together routine fruit fly trapping information from around Australia into one national dataset for 2009-10. The Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer (OCPPO), the group that commissioned the work, expects that the national dataset will be used to help:

  • support domestic and overseas market access for Australian plant commodities
  • support the development of quarantine policies and standards
  • identify changes in fruit fly distribution and breeding cycles
  • identify any gaps in our current trapping grid

The fruit fly trapping information will be aggregated into a single, national dataset using the BioSIRT (Biosecurity, Surveillance, Incident Response and Tracing) application. Currently, the BioSIRT team is rolling out the template to be used by all state and territory jurisdictions for collecting the information. The collection of this information will be the first time this type of data will be available in one place.

The OCPPO is partially funding the National Fruit Fly Rollout activity through the Australian Government’s contribution to implementation of the National Fruit Fly Strategy. This activity has been fully endorsed by the Plant Health Committee, Australia’s national plant health decision-making body.

New national diagnostic protocols released

An update from the Subcommittee on Plant Health Diagnostic Standards (SPHDS)

Four new Australian National Diagnostic Protocols (NDPs) for plant pests of concern, and a new version of an existing protocol, have been released. The new NDPs, developed through the Subcommittee on Plant Health Diagnostic Standards (SPHDS), include:

  • Plum Pox Virus (Version 2) – NDP No. 2
  • Avocado Thrips – NDP No. 3
  • Poinsettia Thrips – NDP No. 4
  • Sudden Oak Death – NDP No. 5
  • Pierce’s Disease – NDP No. 6

Plant health diagnosticians across Australia will be able to use the new NDPs to more accurately and consistently diagnose these plant pests if detected in the country. The Plant Health Committee, Australia's national plant health policy decision-making body, has endorsed the protocols for national use.

National diagnostic protocols for plant pests

Accreditation standard for plant health diagnostic laboratories

An update from the Subcommittee on Plant Health Diagnostic Standards (SPHDS)

Plant health diagnostic laboratories in Australia now have the option of adopting a national accreditation standard. The accreditation standard, ISO/IEC 17025, was released in 2009. It allows diagnostic laboratories to gain formal recognition that it meets internationally accepted standards of quality, performance, technical expertise and competence.

Diagnostic laboratories adopting the accreditation standard will benefit through:

  • improved effectiveness and productivity of diagnostic testing
  • increased credibility of plant health laboratory results both nationally and internationally
  • reduced possibility of incorrect diagnoses (or failure to detect) of exotic plant pests which may lead to incorrect actions by state and territory governments
  • improved documentation systems for testing and recording, leading to increased traceability of samples and results
  • compliance with international trade standards that require ‘evidence of absence’ of pests to provide technical justification of Phytosanitary measures, and support trade and market access

The Subcommittee on Plant Health Diagnostic Standards (SPHDS) and the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) together developed the accreditation standard. The document provides guidance for obtaining the accreditation standard in Annex 3.8.

ISO/IEC 17025 Field Application Document: Biological Testing – Supplementary requirements for accreditation PDF Icon PDF [418KB]

Arthropod Collections in the Philippines published

A publication providing an overview of the extent, condition and management of arthropod collections in the Philippines has recently been produced. The publication ‘Arthropod Collections in the Philippines’ consolidates information from a survey undertaken in 2006. For the collections surveyed, the publication includes information such as:

  • institutional contacts and locations
  • size and condition
  • purpose and use
  • storage and record information management facilities
  • observations about the potential use of collections to provide voucher specimens in support of pest lists

The publication also provides general observations about the arthropod collections surveyed in the Philippines.

Arthropod collections such as those in the Philippines are of importance because durable collections provide a scientific basis for establishing plant health status.

CSIRO Entomology was commissioned by the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer to conduct the 2006 survey of arthropod collections in the Philippines. The publication was funded through an AusAID Philippines-Australia Public Sector Linkages Program activity entitled ‘Building National Pest Lists to Underpin Agricultural Exports’.

AQIS Bulletin released

The January-March 2010 issue of the AQIS Bulletin has recently been released. This issue features many biosecurity related articles, including the following two plant health related articles from the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer:

  • Expanding Australia’s expertise in plant health
  • Boosting biosecurity in South-East Asia

The AQIS Bulletin contains stories about AQIS events, pest and disease discoveries and news for importers and exporters. It also contains stories about amusing and sometimes alarming quarantine seizures from Australia’s airports, seaports and mail centres.

AQIS Bulletin – January-March 2010

Official pest reports to the IPPC

Australia has added eleven official pest reports to the International Phytosanitary Portal (IPP) since December 2009. The official pest reports, a mix of retrospective and new reports, are:

  • Solenopsis mealybug, which is established in parts of central and northern Queensland
  • Limnocharis flava – a weed in northern Queensland that is under eradication
  • Mikania vine in Far North Queensland, also under eradication
  • Invasive Miconia species in Australia, under eradication
  • Koster’s curse in Julatten, Queensland, under eradication
  • Branched broomrape in South Australia, under eradication
  • Siam weed in Queensland, Australia, under eradication
  • Red Imported Fire Ant (RIFA) in Queensland, Australia, under eradication
  • Detection of mango malformation disorder in Queensland, Australia, under management
  • Sugar cane smut is now established in all sugarcane growing areas of Australia
  • Mango fruit borer, which is established in the Greater Darwin Area of the Northern Territory

These reports are available from the IPP website at Australia (refer to the Official Pest Report table).

The Australian International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat places notifications of pest incursions on the IPP as recommended by the Consultative Committee on Emergency Plant Pests, following confirmed diagnosis of pests and surveillance to determine distribution.

Australia, as a party to the IPPC, is required to share information on plant pests, particularly on the reporting of pest occurrence and outbreak or spread of pests that are of immediate or potential danger. Placing reports on the IPP is the agreed way to share this information.

The distribution and status of the pests in the reports (i.e. present or absent) is drawn from a list that is included in the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No. 08: Determination of pest status in an area.

Newly adopted International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures

Six new standards or parts of standards, and one revised International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs), have recently been adopted by the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM). The CPM, which is the governing body of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), adopted the standards at its fifth meeting, held in Rome from 22-26 March 2010. The standards adopted by the CPM are:

  • ISPM 33: Design and operation of post-entry quarantine stations for plants – This standard describes general guidelines for the design and operation of post-entry quarantine stations for holding imported consignments of plants, mainly plants for planting, in confinement in order to verify whether or not they are infested with quarantine pests.

  • ISPM 34: Pest free potato (Solanum spp) micropropagative material and minitubers for international trade – This standard provides guidance on the production, maintenance and phytosanitary certification of pest free potato (Solanum tuberosum and related tuber-forming species) micropropagative material and minitubers intended for international trade. It does not apply to field-grown propagative material intended for consumption or processing.

  • Amendments to ISPM 5: Glossary of phytosanitary terms – Deletion of beneficial organisms

  • Annex 1 to ISPM 27: Diagnostic Protocol - Thrips palmi PDF Icon PDF [854KB] – This is the first diagnostic protocol to be adopted by the CPM. It provides diagnosticians with the tools to accurately diagnose the pest and to be confident in their result.

  • Annexes to ISPM 28: Phytosanitary treatments for regulated pests

  • Annex: Irradiation treatment for Conotrachelus nenuphar

  • Annex: Irradiation treatment for Grapholita molesta

  • Annex: Irradiation treatment for Grapholita molesta under hypoxia

The CPM revised the footnote in irradiation treatments to note that evaluation of potential effects of the treatment on quality of the commodity may require additional consideration. To ensure consistency, the IPPC Secretariat will retroactively adjust the footnote in all annexes to ISPM 28.

Other irradiation treatments that had been circulated for member consultation were returned to the Standards Committee for further consideration following receipt of formal objections.

A draft appendix on fruit fly trapping has been returned to the Standards Committee for resolution of late comments and will hopefully be submitted for adoption at CPM in 2011.

The recently adopted standards, recognised under the World Trade Organization Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, will be available at International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs).

As a party to the IPPC, Australia participated at the CPM and its delegation ensured that adopted standards addressed Australia’s issues and concerns.

A full report of the fifth meeting of the CPM will soon be available on the IPPC website at Report of the CPM and ICPM.

 

Last reviewed:
21 May 2010
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