A carp virus working group has been convened by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and includes Victorian, New South Wales, South Australian and Queensland fisheries agencies and Biosecurity Australia.
Victorian Fisheries Authority has established a technical group with NSW DPI – Fisheries, with participants including GWMWater and Wimmera Catchment Management Authority, WCMA, to guide the design of the carp virus trial.
WCMA acting chief executive Luke Austin said he was excited to trial the virus in the Wimmera, following the range of controlled, in-laboratory trials.
“The next stage for the virus is field trials in a controlled environment – they aren’t looking at releasing it in the river system itself yet, it would be a very controlled trial in dams and wetlands, but it is the next stage in going through the approvals to get to that point,” he said.
“We’ve had some initial conversations, but that’s part of the project, working through that. Being a controlled trial, there would need to be a number of parameters that need to be met to find sites.
“One of the key things that does make the Wimmera River unique, is we are a closed catchment – it is not connected to other waterways – so it does make it a bit more of a controlled environment.”
On Country Today, Victorian Fisheries Authority chief executive Travis Dowling said carp were now 90 per cent of the biomass in waterways.
“It’s a no-brainer,” he said.
“We need to have a trial of the virus in real-life Australian conditions – it’s never been trialled outside of the CSIRO laboratory in Geelong.
“There’s been so much research done – 240 different scientists have worked on this, there’s been 38 different papers published, thousands of pages.”
Mr Dowling said billabongs and backwaters became carp-breeding grounds following flood events.
“Carp breed at three times the rate native fish do, they absolutely out-compete native fish – three million eggs in one go,” he said.
“We saw the water just explode with these small carp, and then those small carp become big carp, and those big carp become breeders.
“Even though we’re stocking so many fish, carp will eat baby fish. There’s a misconception they’ll only eat plants and rubbish on the bottom, that’s not true – they will eat anything when they are after a food source.
“The herpes virus won’t get rid of all the carp, but it will reduce their numbers and give our native fish a chance to get to be the dominant fish in our waterway.”
Mr Austin said WCMA had worked on carp removal in the past.
“We’ve had other viruses in the past to control pest animals – it’s probably no different to when the myxomatosis was released for rabbit control,” he said.
“Carp are a pest species similar to that, this is in the waterways, so it’s a different concept, but it’s not a new concept in that space.
“We’ve been talking about the carp virus now for a number of years, so it’s really about taking the next step to see whether it’s going to be effective or not.”
There are no size limits or bag limits for European carp in Victorian fishing rules – they are a noxious species under the Fisheries Act 1995 and must not be returned to the water alive.
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