The NR Times Rural News
November 16, 2023
34 RURAL NEWS
Farmers fork out billions a year on pests and weeds Pests and weeds are costing farmers a combined $5.3 billion a year in both management and production loss. Australian farmers are spending $3.8 billion a year to control vertebrate pests and weeds and suffering production losses of 1.5 billion. ABARES Executive Director Dr Jared Greenville said the latest ABARES report, Cost of established pest animals and weeds to Australian agricultural producers, was an eye-opening reminder of the immense task of managing pests and weeds. “Costs vary across industries and type of pest and weed, with New South Wales accounting
for the largest share of estimated costs at 26%, followed by Western Australia at 25%, and Victoria and Queensland at each 17%,” Dr Greenville said.
“Some farmers are able to manage and reduce damage from pest animals and weeds, but the cost of management is high and outright elimination is much
harder. “Despite their best efforts, agricultural producers still lose an estimated $1.5 billion a year in damage to crops and livestock.
“The biggest impact was from weeds, which contributed 82% of the cost to farmers. “Vertebrate pests still have a significant impact on farmers.
Foxes, rabbits, feral pigs, wild dogs and goats collectively cost landholders $866 million every year. “It also absorbs time and effort – around 72% of the estimated cost is in the working hours devoted to managing pests and weeds.” The latest ABARES report, Cost of established pest animals and weeds to Australian agricultural producers, can be read by scanning the QR Code bellow.
OzFish launches first ever recreational angler tagging program across Murray-Darling Basin Recreational fishers are being given a golden chance to show how valuable they are in the Murray-Darling Basin as part of an innovative new fish tagging project. For the first time, a program is entrusting freshwater anglers and
river rangers with this important work. OzFish Unlimited, together with Charles Sturt University researchers and First Nations groups will spearhead the program thanks to funding support from the Australian Government’s OneBasin CRC
Braeden Lampard PIT tags a golden perch.
program and the NSW Recreational Fishing Trust. OzFish are calling on recreational fishers to express their interest now online. Volunteers will be required to complete specialist training on fish handling and will be taught how to implant
the Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) Tags with a special tool. The first workshop will be held at Deniliquin on November 25 with further events scheduled to take place at Swan Hill and Mildura early in 2024. Dr John Conallin who is supporting the project said tagging programs can provide a wealth of data on fish movement patterns, habitat preferences, population dynamics, mortality rates and more. “The data gathered will give us a long-term picture of where native fish are moving and perhaps not moving in the Murray Darling
Basin. It is critical to help uncover where our energy and focus needs to be to help native fish.” Braeden Lampard, OzFish’s Senior Program Manager Murray Darling Basin believes it is about time inland recreational fishers were given this opportunity. “Australia runs some of the largest and longest running saltwater tagging programs in the world. They’ve been widely used for years with the support of recreational fishers, however for our freshwater anglers along the Murray Darling Basin, this is uncharted territory. In contrast to
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conventional tagging programs in saltwater environments, these tags are designed to emit signals or “ping” when the fish passes through a lock or fishway. “Participating anglers will have the opportunity to access the data associated with the fish they tag,” said Braeden. The long-term goal is to utilise rec fishers and river rangers in long-term fish tagging programs across the Murray-Darling Basin, integrated into scientific programs as trusted partners. Anglers are asked to register now via: ozfish. org.au/nsw-native-fishtagging-eoi-2023
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