Alien Fishes Committee Report - December 1999

Re-formed! Reformed! Re-formed! Reformed! Re-formed! Re-formed!

The Alien Species Committee was reformed at the Bendigo Conference during September 1999. We are currently forming our charter, and at present it stands as:

To promote awareness of exotic species, and issues relating to them, in the Australasian area.

The Australasian region is taken to encompass Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya, and we will primarily focus on freshwater and estuarine fish species, extending perhaps to larger decapod crustacea.

To achieve the charter of the sub-committee, we will endeavour to maintain a watch-in-brief on recent research and issues relating to exotic species, such as:

  • new additions to the fauna of exotic species;
  • changes to the range of established species;
  • new translocations of native species; and,
  • changes to legislation.

We will also access any recent research, direct research if possible (eg. define research areas for post-graduate students), and maintain the focus on those species which were introduced a long time ago, eg. Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Roach, Atlantic Salmon, etc.

The membership of the Sub-committee at present stands as follows:

Chairperson

VIC - Tarmo Raadik, Freshwater Ecology, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, 123 Brown St., Heidelberg VIC 3084. Ph: 039 450 8600. Fax: 03 9450 8730. E-mail: tarmo.raadik@nre.vic.gov.au.

Members

NSW - David Pollard, (immediate past-chair), NSW Fisheries, 202 Nicholson Parade, Cronulla NSW 2230. Ph: 029 527 8422, Fax: 029 527 8576. E-mail: pollardd@fisheries.nsw.gov.au.
NSW - Anthony Moore, Centre for Animal Conservation Genetics, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore NSW 2480. Ph: 026 620 3815, Fax: 026 621 2669. E-mail: amoore@scu.edu.au.
ACT - Richard Tilzey, Bureau of Rural Sciences, PO Box E11, Kingston, ACT 2604. Ph: 026 272 4044, Fax: 026 272 4014. E-mail: richard.tilzey@brs.gov.au.
QLD - Mark Kennard, Centre for Catchment and In-Stream Research, Griffith University, Kessels Road, Nathan QLD 4111. Ph: 073 875 7401, Fax: 073 875 7615. E-mail: m.kennard@mailbox.gu.edu.au.
TAS - Patricia Kailola, Private Consultant, 19 Walkers Avenue, Newnham TAS 7248. Ph: 036 326 6948, Fax: 036 326 6958. E-mail: pkailola@compuserve.com.
TAS - John Diggle, Inland Fisheries Commission (to be confirmed), 127 Davey Street, Hobart TAS 7000. Ph: 036 233 4140. E-mail: jdiggle@ifc.tas.gov.au.
NZ - Richard Allibone, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd., PO Box 11-115, Hillcrest, Hamilton, New Zealand. Ph: 0064 7856 1776, Fax: 0064 7856 0151. E-mail: r.allibone@niwa.cri.nz.
WA - no current member.
SA - no current member.
NT - no current member. (suggested Rolly Griffin - are you out there?? Are you interested??)

We are very interested in having representative from each state so if you are interested, please contact the Chairperson.

Proposed activities

Some of our first tasks will be to:

  • Develop a comprehensive bibliography dealing with exotic/translocated species which we will place onto the ASFB homepage.
  • Develop a list of exotic/translocated species in the Australasian region with distributional maps which may also be placed onto the ASFB homepage.
  • Provide a yearly update/summary on recent introductions, research, publications (via the ASFB Newsletter and Homepage).
  • Developing a brief risk assessment associated with each exotic species where possible.
  • Collate a list of known research programs dealing with exotic organisms, including a contact details of researchers (ASFB web-page).

Some of this has already been collated by Angela Arthington, Patricia Kailola and others in a worthy tome: Baseline Environmental Data Relevant to an Evaluation of Quarantine Risk Potentially Associated with the Importation to Australia of Ornamental Finfish. This can be found at:
http://www.aqis.gov.au/docs/qdu/Environmental-report.pdf

Two other recent interesting publication are:

Tim Low 1999. Feral Future. The untold story of Australia's exotic invaders. Viking, Penguin Books, Australia.

Anon 1999. National Policy for the Translocation of Live Aquatic Organisms. Issues, pronciples and guidelines for implementation. Ministerial Council on Forestry, Fisheries and Aquaculture.
http://www.brs.gov.au/fish/translocation.html

What you can do

The Sub-committee is interested in any comments that you might have, your input on any activity covered by the Sub-committee, and also any relevant information you may have. Either contact the chairperson or committee member in your state.

Hoping to hear from you,

Tarmo Raadik
Chairperson,
Exotic Species Sub-committee
2 December 1999