The (Chair +) CEO Yarn
Dear <<First Name>>,
It is our last CISS Chronicle for the year, and the first opportunity to officially welcome Bruce Christie as the new Chair of our Centre. Bruce is well known to many and has over 30 years of experience working in biosecurity, initially as a veterinarian working on animal disease management and then within the broader biosecurity spectrum of animal and plant pests, diseases, and weeds.
He'll be a great asset to our community and as is customary for our final year Yarn, below is a joint statement from both of us.
At the end of 2019 we looked forward to seeing many of you at Australasia’s premier vertebrate pest conference (AVPC) in Melbourne in May. Well, as a bit of déjà vu, we again say we look forward to welcoming you to the conference in May 2021 and have made the decision to go fully virtual. More on this below.
‘Unprecedented’ and ‘adaptation’ are two key words which have defined 2020, as bushfires, major storms and of course COVID-19 has required all Australians to quickly adapt to a new normal and has also put a major spotlight on the threats to our biosecurity system.
CISS has been proud to be part of solution to ensure we are delivering tools and products which are strengthening Australia’s biosecurity shield.
While difficult to do in just a few sentences, the major highlights from 2020 can be summed up in three main areas, where we have:
- Added value across our National Biosecurity System through the extensive trialling of a portable environmental DNA (eDNA) device to detect national priority exotic pests, and the development of web scraper tools to monitor e-commerce sites for the sale of illegal and/or inhibited species.
- Developed new on-farm tools such as the national registration of a PAPP-Putty - a lethal trap device for wild dogs and foxes - which will be available in 2021, as well as large scale trials of a feral deer aggregator to optimise deer management activities. We have also begun the national registration process for a new rabbit biocontrol agent and a new feral cat toxin.
- Accelerated adoption of best practice management through the extensive upgrades of PestSmart and FeralScan, and the launch of a brand-new national weeds website – WeedsAustralia, along with the employment of a brand new National Deer Management Coordinator.
You can read a much more detailed version of the above points in our Annual Report here
As the year comes to an end, and many of us are now starting to wind down, we want to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to bringing you more exciting developments in 2021.
Bruce Christie
Chair | Centre for Invasive Species Solutions
Andreas Glanznig
CEO | Centre for Invasive Species Solutions
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