Entire Aussie city quarantined as billion-dollar threat spreads
To slow the spread of the invasive polyphagous shot-hole borer, a buffer zone has been set up around Perth to protect the rest of the state.
A quarantine zone has been expanded around an Australian capital city to help slow the rapid spread of an invasive pest threatening to cause billions of dollars in damage. Perth’s entire metropolitan area has now been included within the buffer zone which is intended to help protect the rest of Western Australia from the infestation of polyphagous shot-hole borers.
Originally from southeast Asia, the tiny creatures have now invaded several countries including the United States and Israel. One of the worst impacted countries is South Africa where it's estimated to have caused $28 billion in damage.
The borers have a symbiotic relationship with fungus, working together they can kill a tree in two years by blocking water and sap to its roots and leaves. It is feared entire native forests and agricultural crops could be destroyed in Australia.
After its 2021 discovery in Perth, authorities responded by chopping down trees, including 120-year-old Moreton Bay fig trees in the Botanic Gardens, but experts don’t believe the measure will eradicate the beetle as it’s only been successfully defeated once before, and that was in Europe when the weather cooled and the beetle became less active.
Related: Harvey Norman bed discovered riddled with invasive species from China
Plants can no longer leave the city because of invasive beetle threat
Thirty local government areas are now impacted by the quarantine. The city has now been divided into two zones, each with different rules that residents must follow.
Zone A includes suburbs with high numbers of the beetles and there are heavy restrictions on the movement of plants, gardening equipment and wood out of that zone. Zone B is a buffer zone around towns with fewer or no infested trees, and while residents face the same restrictions, they can move wood and plant materials back into Zone A.
DPIRD Chief Plant Biosecurity Officer Vincent Lanoiselet said box elder maples, coral trees, Moreton Bay and Port Jackson figs and London plane trees were at a higher risk of being affected. He urged residents to be on the lookout for infestations as the weather heats up.
“Signs of borer activity include tiny holes the size of a ballpoint pen in the tree trunk or branches, staining or discolouration of the wood, gumming and frass, as well as signs of dieback in the tree,” he said.
Authorities unable to protect Australia from invasive species
Australia's biosecurity agencies have been warned the country faces increasing threats from invasive insects as climate change alters weather patterns around the globe. Tropical diseases Dengue fever and several fungus species that are not yet established on the mainland are also expected to become problematic.
While Australia previously had a strong reputation for having strong quarantine protections, they appear to be increasingly failing.
A varroa mite infestation in NSW is threatening Australia's honey production and even farmers far away in Tasmania are concerned. And authorities seem unable to stop the spread of a fire ant invasion that began in Queensland and has spread to northern NSW and the Murray Darling Basin.
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