Australian Pest Animal Management Program (APAMP)
The Australian Pest Animal Management Program (APAMP) is funded by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and administered by the Bureau of Rural Sciences. APAMP funds research projects that develop and promote improved approaches to the management and monitoring of agricultural pest animals. The program is aligned with the goals and objectives of the Australian Pest Animal Strategy.
The main objectives of APAMP are to:
- develop integrated, strategic approaches to manage the impacts of nationally significant pest animals on agriculture
- improve the effectiveness of control techniques and strategies for reducing pest animal impacts on agriculture
- produce guidelines and extension materials for the best practice management of nationally significant pest animals
- quantify the benefits of pest animal management.
Priority pest species include those addressed by the BRS ‘Managing Vertebrate Pests’ guidelines, as well as the species recognised as priorities in the Caring for our Country business plan (available from What is Caring for our Country?) where they have demonstrated agricultural impacts. APAMP also considers projects that quantify the impacts of native species (e.g. flying foxes) on agricultural production and develop approaches to reduce these impacts. In addition, economic, environmental and social assessments of large-scale on-ground pest animal management (e.g. Caring for our Country projects) to quantify their benefits, have also been identified as a priority.
2009-10 funded projects
Twelve research and extension projects were funded in 2009-10.
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Project title and objective |
Agency and contact |
|---|---|
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Capacity building for best practice management of invasive pests: learning to protect Australia’s future To develop and expand the current Diploma skill-set in pest animal management and significantly increase the extent to which damage due to pest animals is addressed using coordinated approaches, consistent with the Australian Pest Animal Strategy. |
University of Canberra
Stephen Sarre |
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Development of a Standard Operating Procedure and a training package for the field immobilisation of large herbivores in Judas control programs To develop a standard operating procedure to ensure the humane, safe and efficient field immobilisation of feral donkeys and feral camels, and to develop and implement a training package for field operators. |
Department of Food and Agriculture (WA)
Andrew Woolnough |
|
Trapping Introduced Predators for the Protection of Biodiversity and Livestock an Instructional DVD To develop and produce an instructional DVD to be implemented nationally that will assist field operators to become competent and more confident in the use of nationally approved trapping devices for the control of introduced predators including wild dogs, foxes and feral cats. |
Invasive Animals CRC
Greg Mifsud |
|
Registering an orally deliverable antidote to methaemoglobin inducers The aim of this project is to determine a safe and effective methylene blue dosage that can be administered orally as an antidote to methaemoglobinaemia caused by lethal PAPP or sodium nitrite poisoning of domestic dogs. |
Invasive Animals CRC
Simon Humphrys |
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FeralScan – Web-based community reporting, education and extension tool for landholders and community groups Develop community-based web reporting tools for addressing major gaps in current reporting frameworks and have direct benefits to landholders, community groups and individuals managing pests and their impacts. This will allow easier access for industry, government and community to report on pest animals and their impacts. |
Industry and Investment NSW
Peter West |
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Facilitating Strategic Management of Wild Dogs throughout Australia To raise the profile of cooperative wild dog management across Australia; develop and promote management planning consistent with best practice; create national networks among management groups, managers and researchers for a more rapid flow of information; identify priority areas for management and research; and identify and develop education programs and extension material. |
Invasive Animals CRC
Greg Mifsud |
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National mapping of introduced pest bird species throughout Australia To develop improved Australia-wide datasets for priority pest bird species that can be used for monitoring, evaluation, reporting and program improvement by regional NRM groups and land managers. |
Industry and Investment NSW
Peter West |
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Livestock Guardian Dog\Wild Dog Interaction Study To investigate the movements of guardian dogs in relation to sheep and adjacent wild dogs and the degree to which guardian dogs and wild dogs intermix, to assess if there is any interbreeding between guardian dogs and wild dogs and to recommend best practice guardian dog management. |
Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries
Lee Allen |
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PestSmart: Development and promotion of farmer, landcare and regional end user pest animal capacity building and management packages To identify preferred communication and capacity building pathways and existing adoption networks and use these to develop and promote PestSmart information toolkits for pest animal managers. |
Invasive Animals CRC
Lisa Robbins |
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Prioritising Vertebrate Pests on the Brink of Introduction and Establishment Using Bayesian Networks To develop ‘Bayesian Belief Networks’ to predict the likelihood of establishment in the wild of selected species groups, to prioritise these species for risk management strategies, to provide these species lists to the Vertebrate Pests Committee and affiliated agencies and produce education and publicity material (e.g. National Pest Alerts) for an agreed group of high-priority species. |
Department of Agriculture and Food (WA) Marion Massam |
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Identifying corridors, refuges and entry points for starlings at an invasion front Determine the presence/absence of starlings in new habitats, identify potential habitat corridors used by starlings for dispersal, to inform management and guide strategic response(s) to starling incursions and encourage community monitoring. |
WA, SA Susan Campbell |
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Evaluation of Spatial Data Capture and Information Systems for Invasive Species Management This project will document and compare information systems currently available, or with the potential, to collect and share data on the distribution, abundance and management of invasive animal species in Australia. This will also take into account the role of the public, Regional NRM groups, and agencies in collecting and sharing data; effectiveness of information systems in understanding pest animal distribution, abundance and impacts; and opportunities for improving the efficiency and cost effectiveness of data collection and management through the use of these information systems. |
Department of Agriculture and Food (WA)
Michael Nunweek |
Annual APAMP funding rounds will be advertised on this website. Please contact the APAMP coordinator for more information.
APAMP Background
Vertebrate pests such as rabbits, foxes and feral goats now make up over ten per cent of Australia's mammal species. They have adapted and spread into most of Australia's agricultural systems and natural environments. None have been eradicated, despite considerable effort. With available control techniques, it is unlikely to be technically, economically or socially feasible to eradicate any established, widespread vertebrate pest from the Australian mainland. Therefore the focus of APAMP is on strategic, sustained best practice management of pest animals where they are causing actual rather than perceived damage.
Principles underlying APAMP:
1 Managing actual rather than perceived impacts
Often impacts have not been quantified. For some situations, APAMP would prefer to support 12-month pilot projects to define basic pest ecology (for example, relating movements and density to damage), nature and extent of impact, and, the stakeholders involved in the problem. Monitoring agricultural production responses to pest control during the management phase of field projects should provide some quantification of pest animal impacts and the effectiveness of management strategies.
2 Impact-based management rather than pest-based management
In some situations there are more technically, economically and socially feasible ways to reduce damage than killing pest animals (for example, pruning parrot-damaged bluegum trees can be more effective than some other methods). Additionally, the relationship between pest density and resultant damage is not well known and is often not uniform, so reducing pest animals down to a target density may not achieve an expected or proportional reduction in damage. Even at low densities, for example one rabbit per square kilometre, may prevent native species which are used for shelter by livestock from regenerating. So, reducing rabbit numbers may not achieve the desired improvement in agricultural production or resource/ecosystem condition. The focus of APAMP is not on removing pest animals as such, but reducing their impact in effective, efficient and acceptable ways.
3 Strategic management
Management should be strategic in terms of:
- defining the problem to be managed
- determining the appropriate scale and timing of management measures
- implementing a long-term strategy rather than a one-off management measure
- considering a combination of control techniques rather than relying on a single technique.
4 Group management rather than individual management
Managing pest animals at the local or regional scale reduces problems with pests repopulating areas where they have already been controlled and increases the efficiency of management. It is also important to involve all stakeholders in defining management problems and implementing solutions.
5 Commercial use where appropriate
Commercial use of pest animals (for meat, skins and other products) may improve the economic feasibility of pest management and is a useful management technique if it reduces pest densities to a level where damage is adequately reduced or if it is used as the first stage of a higher level control program.
6 Humane techniques and strategies
APAMP will support the development of more humane pest management techniques and strategies where their efficacy and cost-effectiveness are likely to be comparable to existing approaches.