The economic and environmental impacts of introduced marine pests (IMPs) can be sizable. They compete with native species, introduce diseases, damage fisheries and aquaculture, and exacerbate fouling.
An extreme example is in the Baltic Sea where the proliferation of an introduced jelly caused a systemic collapse of fisheries in the region, worth an estimated US$500 million/year. This pest is now present in the Caspian and Black seas.

Locally, pearling industry representatives have concerns regarding outbreaks of Black Striped Mussels given its significant potential impacts and the cost of remediation in Northern Australia during 1998. Darwin was a poignant reminder of the potential speed and scale of pest invasions and the problems they cause. The Pacific Seastar is another significant IMP in Australia, which has potential to impact commercial shellfish stocks and aquaculture.

A national framework for the monitoring of IMPs, has been developed by the National Introduced Marine Pests Coordination Group (NIMPCG) and the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), identifying 55 species and 18 locations throughout Australia as high risk. Currently the knowledge in W.A. is fragmented and our capacity to address this threat is underdeveloped despite the fact that three of the top ten high-risk locations are Fremantle (2nd), Dampier (6th) and Port Headland (9th) and that monitoring implementation is imminent.

To undertake effective monitoring for these high risk pests at selected locations, researchers need to be skilled in discriminating native from introduced species. Furthermore, it is important that techniques used by marine pest laboratories are as nationally standardised as possible. To this end there is a need for W.A. researchers to visit other labs in Australia and New Zealand to make sure that there is consistent methods among comparable labs. This knowledge will allow local researchers to effectively monitor IMPs and develop national consistency.