- Call to support the annual surveillance campaign to protect WA agriculture and fisheries from biosecurity threats
- Public the first line of defence in reporting and detecting biosecurity pests, diseases and weeds
Western Australians are being urged to get behind the WA's annual community biosecurity surveillance campaign to help protect the State's valuable agricultural industry.
This is the fourth year of the Biosecurity Blitz, which encourages the public to report any pests, diseases and weeds, and will run from October 19 to November 16.
The public plays a vital role as a first line of defence to protect the State's enviable biosecurity reputation, which is essential to secure market access for WA's agricultural and fisheries produce in Australia and overseas.
Participants, including schools, families and community groups, are encouraged to visit the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development website to learn how to contribute reports to Biosecurity Blitz: http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/biosecurity/biosecurity-blitz-2018.
The campaign received strong support in 2017, with 854 reports recorded, resulting in the detection of new locations for citrus gall wasp.
As stated by Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan:
"Biosecurity is everyone's responsibility and it is important for government, industry and the community to work together to protect our valuable agriculture and fisheries sectors from costly pests, diseases and weeds.
"Early detection is essential for an effective biosecurity response, as has been demonstrated by the State's response to several exotic pests over the past 18 months, including Queensland fruit fly, tomato potato psyllid, citrus canker and brown marmorated stink bug.
"Biosecurity pests not only threaten agricultural production, but can also close down access to domestic and export markets and negatively impact on farmers' livelihoods, regional communities and the State economy.
"Recent reports made by the public of European wasp, green snail and giant Australian grasshoppers showed that everyone can make a difference by reporting their observations to the department.
"Western Australians can get behind our farmers by downloading one of the free MyPestGuideTM Reporter or PestFax apps to report pests, or the WA PestWatch app for aquatic observations."
