A Ministerial Taskforce was established to oversee development of the NCCP to maximise the impact of CyHV-3 on carp populations while minimising impacts to industry, communities and the environment.
The CHV-3 virus will potentially affect carp at an unprecedented geographic scale – hence a fundamental understanding of the abundance and biomass (total weight of carp in a given area) of carp within representative habitats throughout eastern Australia is required. This is a priority for the NCCP to: (i) safely plan the virus release, (ii) efficiently allocate local and regional clean-up resources, and (iii) identify/manage potential ecological impacts (e.g. water quality).
To meet this need, research is required to provide data on the abundance and biomass of carp within various habitats they occupy (i.e. rivers, lakes, billabongs, estuaries) and at appropriate geographic scales (local, river reach, river-basin, inter-basin). Additionally, local carp densities can vary significantly through time, largely depending on climatic conditions and river flows and hence these factors require investigation to ensure the release of the virus is a success.
Ecological monitoring is also important to benchmark the condition of macrophyte, macroinvertebrate and fish communities, as well as water quality prior to possible release of the carp virus within a representative sub-set of catchments. There is significant investment leveraging potential from existing projects which will be important in demonstrating that the virus has contributed to demonstrable environmental change.
The carp biomass estimation project is relevant to a broad range of stakeholders, including industries, communities, environmental managers (e.g. CMAs, NRM Boards and LLSs groups) because detailed clean-up and risk management plans rely on robust estimates of carp abundance. If the CyHV-3 program is to reach its goal of reducing carp numbers and improving Australia’s aquatic ecosystems, the carp biomass project represents an integral component of this program.
Project number:
2016-153
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure:
$1,413,000.00
Principal Investigator:
Andrew F. Bennett
Organisation:
La Trobe University Melbourne Campus
Project start/end date:
19 Jun 2017
-
29 Nov 2018
Contact:
FRDC
SPECIES
1. To inform resource allocation for CyHV-3 release planning, clean-up and managing potential ecological impacts
2. Provide a robust estimate of carp abundance and biomass in broad a range of aquatic habitats, reaches and river basins in eastern Australia
3. At a sub-set of sites, benchmark the condition of macrophyte, macroinvertebrate, fish communities and water quality prior to release of the carp virus
Authors:
Ivor Stuart
Ben Fanson
Jarod Lyon
Jerom Stocks
Shane Brooks
Andrew Norris
Leigh Thwaites
Matt
Beitzel
Michael Hutchison
Qifeng Ye
John Koehn
and
Andrew Bennett
Final Report
•
2019-11-08
•
14.43 MB
2016-153-DLD.pdf
This study was undertaken by the Arthur Rylah Institute for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. Carp occur in a broad range of aquatic habitats (e.g. rivers, estuaries, wetlands, lakes, impoundments and
irrigation networks) and their density varies spatially and temporally among these environments. Estimates
of Carp biomass are important for effective planning, to understand the feasibility of releasing the virus, the
resource allocation required for clean-up, the management of potential ecological impacts in a broad range
of aquatic habitats, and to establish the benchmark from which to measure the efficacy of the Carp control.
In short, a nationally co-ordinated approach to Carp management requires a reliable, continental-scale
estimate of Carp biomass. The aim of this project was to develop and apply transparent and robust methods to estimate the biomass of
Carp in Australia. This included estimating biomass within a range of major aquatic habitat types (i.e. rivers,
lakes, billabongs, estuaries), at appropriate geographic scales (local, river reach, river-basin and, inter-basin)
across the recorded distribution of the species in Australia; and to determine a national estimate for Carp
biomass.
