Preventing carp-ageddon

The Australian Government has teased that $15 million of this year’s Budget will go towards the National Carp Control Plan — a nationally coordinated approach to eradicating the common carp.

Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Christopher Pyne said the plan will be designed in conjunction with state and territory governments to maximise the impact of biological controls on carp populations while minimising disruption to industries, communities and the environment. The plan will be finalised by a joint ministerial taskforce comprising Pyne, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt.

The common carp makes up 80% of fish biomass in the Murray–Darling Basin and has caused a significant amount of damage to the river environment over many years, threatening other species by making water turbid, causing erosion and outcompeting native fish for food and resources.

According to Joyce, the economic impact of carp is estimated at up to $500 million a year, mostly in regional Australia and especially along the Murray River. He stated that “current control measures, including trapping, commercial fishing and exclusion, are expensive and largely ineffective at controlling carp over large areas or for any length of time”.

However, Pyne noted that the Invasive Animals CRC and the CSIRO have recently made significant progress evaluating a viral biological control agent — Cyprinid herpesvirus, a naturally occurring strain of carp herpesvirus — that will have a significant and immediate impact on carp populations while leaving other fish unharmed.

The plan includes the staged release of the carp control virus, beginning in the Murray–Darling Basin in 2018, and other complementary measures to create a long-term solution to the issue of Australia’s worst freshwater aquatic pest. It will work to ensure continued community awareness of the carp control program by monitoring the effects of the virus after release, opportunities to use harvested carp biomass and measures to protect infrastructure affected.

“This initiative will provide a long-term solution and has already received strong stakeholder support from groups including irrigators, recreational fishing organisations and conservation groups,” said Joyce.

For more information, visit www.agriculture.gov.au/carp-plan.