Reassessing the impacts of carp virus release on Australia’s environmental assets
The Environmental Impacts to Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) (short title: Reassessing the impacts of carp virus release on Australia’s environmental assets) project is part of a long-term program to assess the feasibility of Cyprinid herpesvirus-3 (CyHV-3) (hereby “carp virus”) as a biocontrol agent for common carp.
The project addresses knowledge gaps identified through the series of projects completed during the National Carp Control Program (NCCP) (which considered literature and MNES up until 2017). Specifically, the project focusses on the need to better understand the real potential for impacts on the subset of MNES identified as potentially at medium-high risk (including regulatory considerations), and to review and adapt this risk-assessment to emerging changes in the list of MNES due to updated taxonomic, ecological and conservation knowledge since the ecological risk assessment of the NCCP.
The project will add to knowledge established under the NCCP, to support a Strategic Assessment under the EPBC Act of the potential impacts of carp virus release on MNES, along with management options to reduce risk to an acceptable level.
