BEN Signage Installation Map - Town of East Fremantle

Beach Emergency Number (BEN) Signage for the Town of East Fremantlehttps://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/gis_bens/1062/thumbnail.jp

NDP 54 V1 - National diagnostic protocol for Meadow spittlebug (Philaenus spumarius)

National Diagnostic Protocols (NDPs) are diagnostic protocols for the unambiguous taxonomic identification of plant pests. NDPs: are a verified information resource for plant health diagnosticians are consistent with ISPM No. 27 – Diagnostic Protocols for Regulated Pests provide a nationally consistent approach to the identification of plant pests enabling transparency when comparing diagnostic results between laboratories; and, are endorsed by regulatory jurisdictions for use (either within their own facilities or when commissioning from others) in a pest incursion. Where an International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) diagnostic protocol exists it should be used in preference to NDPs, unless it is shown that the NDP has improved procedures for Australian conditions. NDPs may contain additional information to aid diagnosis. IPPC protocols are available on the IPPC website: https://www.ippc.int/core-activities/standards-setting/ispm

Fisheries Research Report No. 345: Metropolitan monitoring program 2024

Ongoing monitoring of recreational fisheries in the Metropolitan zone is essential to ensure the sustainable use of fisheries resources. Surveys of shore- and boat-based recreational fishers within the Metropolitan zone of the West Coast bioregion provide information on human dimensions and catch-per-fisher as well as mean length and weight of key recreationally caught species. For shore-based fishers, estimates of fishing effort, catch and harvest are also presented for key nearshore species. Information in this report is used to support ongoing assessments for key nearshore species and inform the development and evaluation of harvest strategies and other management actions, such as for Australian Herring and Southern Garfish. A roving creel survey was used to collect data from shore-based fishers between Ocean Reef and Point Peron (30% of coastline within the Metropolitan Zone) from February to June 2024. Estimates of fishing effort and catch therefore align with the spatio-temporal sampling frame of this survey. An access point (boat ramp) survey was used to collect data from boat-based fishers at key boat ramps between Two Rocks and Mandurah from January to July 2024. These data are considered to be representative of the entire Metropolitan zone

Citrus gall wasp control

Citrus gall wasp (Bruchophagus fellis) is an Australian native insect from northern NSW and Queensland and is now established in most Perth suburbs. It affects all citrus species, particularly lemons and grapefruit, and will be an ongoing pest to manage for Perth gardeners, like other common pests. It has not been found in commercial citrus orchards in Western Australia yet

Status of the Western Australian pastoral rangelands 2024: Total vegetative cover, cover risk and pasture condition

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) monitors and reports on the vegetation condition of pastoral rangelands in Western Australia. Two levels of reporting are provided: every 5 years a full report (this report) details the state, trend and risk of decrease of vegetation condition in the pastoral rangelands using information derived from remotely sensed and on-ground data; in the intervening years, short reports are provided based on remotely sensed data. This full report is based on remotely sensed vegetation cover data, rainfall data, livestock data and station-level rangeland condition assessment (RCA) data available in November 2024. Data is presented for 23 land conservation districts (LCD) across the pastoral rangelands. Individual LCDs are grouped into Kimberley, Pilbara, Upper Southern Rangelands and Lower Southern Rangelands regions. Total cover in June–August 2024 was strongly influenced by rainfall in the preceding 1 to 2 years. The risk of the total cover of a key pasture or vegetation functional group falling to or remaining at below-average or very much below-average levels was high or very high in 11 LCDs, which is less than the estimate of 17 LCDs in the 2023 annual report. Station-level assessment of pasture condition and erosion – using rangeland condition assessment (RCA) – was resumed in 2016 after ceasing in 2009. The RCA data collected since 2016 suggest that pasture condition remains generally worse in the Southern Rangelands compared to the Northern Rangelands. RCA data show that on a regional basis, average changes in the pasture condition were non-significant in the Kimberley, Pilbara and Lower Southern Rangelands, while pasture condition improved in the Upper Southern Rangelands

Farm profit impacts of consecutive drought years under climate scenarios in southwestern Australia

Climate projections for southern Australia indicate an increased likelihood of years of consecutive droughts. How resilient are farm businesses and their farming systems to recover from episodic drought? This study assesses the farm economic and financial impacts of consecutive droughts in southwest Australia. Bioeconomic simulation modelling of farm businesses with different farming systems at three locations is used to examine the long-term financial consequences of consecutive droughts. Various key factors affecting those consequences are examined. Farm location, farming system and starting equity are found to be the main determinants of how quickly a farm business can financially recover from the impact of consecutive droughts. Initial low equity greatly reduces the likelihood or speed of recovery from consecutive droughts, especially in low rainfall locations where crop dominant farming systems are commonplace. Projected future climate is shown to affect farms differently, based on the farm’s location and farming system. Farms in high rainfall locations are projected to benefit from future climate change and are more resilient and quicker to recover from consecutive droughts. Changes in sheep or grain prices, during and immediately after consecutive droughts, are shown to only marginally affect a farm’s long-term financial performance whereas rates of gain in crop improvement more strongly support the farm’s financial recovery

Potential parasitoids for management of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J. E. Smith [Lepidoptera: Noctuidae]) in horticulture systems of tropical Australia

The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is a highly polyphagous pest, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas that invaded the Australian mainland in 2020. Since its incursion into Australia, management has largely relied on the use of different synthetic insecticides. Given pesticide resistance genes and reduced sensitivities to a variety of pesticides are already present in the population, there is a need to investigate alternative management approaches that can be incorporated into an IPM programme such as biological control. A fundamental step in establishing the potential of biological control is identifying the potential natural enemies that may be deployed in pest management. In this study, we undertook a series of surveys to identify potential parasitoids for fall armyworm and assessed parasitism rates in Western Australia (WA) and the Northern Territory (NT). Approximately, 1900 larvae of fall armyworm were sourced from maize, sweet corn, okra and sorghum fields, reared and observed for the emergence of parasitoids. Ten species of larval parasitoids from five families were recorded during the surveys with Cotesia ruficrus (Haliday) (56.14%) and Exorista xanthaspis (Wiedemann) (50%) being the most abundant larval species in WA and NT, respectively. Other parasitoids found include four recently described species, Euplectrus frugiperdata Fagan-Jeffries, Chelonus trojanus Fagan-Jeffries, Coccygidium necatrix Atkin-Zaldivar & Fagan-Jeffries, Coccygidium mellosiheroine Atkin-Zaldivar & Fagan-Jeffries, and previously named species, Megaselia scalaris (Loew) and some unidentified Tachinidae. Two species of egg parasitoids, Trichogramma pretiosum (Riley) and Telenomus remus (Nixon), were recovered with field parasitism rates of 7.81% and 10.16%, respectively. Overall, the occurrence of potential egg and larval parasitoids in Australian horticulture systems provides a unique platform to develop a conservation or augmentative biological control approach to manage fall armyworm in Australia

BEN Signage Installation Map - Shire of Shark Bay

BEN Signage Installation Map - Shire of Shark Bayhttps://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/gis_bens/1058/thumbnail.jp

Fisheries Research Report No. 352: Boat-based recreational fishing in Western Australia 2023/24

The integrated survey of boat-based recreational fishing includes three components: off-site phone surveys (encompassing an initial screening survey, a longitudinal phone-diary survey, and post-enumeration surveys), on-site boat ramp surveys and remote camera surveys. The recent phone-diary survey from September 2023 to August 2024 (inclusive) provides comparisons with previous surveys in 2020/21 (September 2020 to August 2021), 2017/18 (September 2017 to August 2018), 2015/16 (September 2015 to August 2016), 2013/14 (May 2013 to April 2014) and 2011/12 (March 2011 to February 2012)