Development of forest health surveillance systems for South Pacific countries and Australia

• Ministry of Agriculture, Sugar and Land Resettlement, Fiji
• Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Tonga
• Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Fiji
• Forestry Tasmania, Australia
• Department of Forests, Vanuatu
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forests, Fisheries and Meteorology, Samoa
• CSIRO Entomology, Australia
• Fiji Pine Ltd, Fiji
• Melcoffee Sawmills, Vanuatu
• Vanuatu Department of Agriculture, Horticulture and Quarantine Inspection Service, Vanuatu

Most countries and territories in the South Pacific are experiencing a growing demand for animal products, as human populations increase and expectations rise for higher living standards. Greater intensification of animal production in areas with limited land resources has increased the possibility of human-animal contact, and thus the risk of zoonotic disease. Zoonotic diseases are capable of being transmitted directly from animals to humans. Trichinellosis, leptospirosis and angiostrongylosis are the diseases of most concern in the region. Leptospirosis infection causes production loss in livestock and is a serious public health issue, especially for owners of livestock and workers in the processing industry. Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection is an unquantified threat to livestock health and is emerging as a serious public health problem. Trichinella infection in pigs is a barrier to livestock trade and could result in a significant loss to producers. If this organism entered Australia, it could cause severe economic losses to the Australian pork industry. Zoonotic diseases (diseases transmitted from animals to humans) are thought to be increasing in the South Pacific as livestock production intensifies.

The project is working to determine the extent of the problem posed by zoonotic diseases, and to develop control strategies to reduce their impact.

The project commenced in November 2002 with a workshop of Australian participants to develop surveillance methodology appropriate for the Pacific. The methodology was adapted from that used by FHS units in Queensland and Tasmania for plantation and woodlot survey and for surveillance of port surrounds. The project team developed a Pacific Forest Health Field Form for project personnel undertaking forest surveys in each country. The form was compatible with the existing SPC Pest List Database (PLD) for the Pacific that will store data collected during this project. It included some additional forestry-specific fields that have now been accommodated in the PLD.
At a training workshop for all project collaborators in Suva in March-April 2003 the draft methodology was discussed and refined. Group field surveys were then conducted and training provided in FHS techniques, including use of Global Positioning Satellite equipment, recognition of symptoms of tree disorders, specimen collecting, data recording and entry. Participants also received an introduction to insect taxonomy and learnt to identify types of insect and fungal damage to trees. They learnt methods of specimen handling, curating, shipping and housing. Participants received collection equipment, reference literature and insect identification keys for use in each country.
After the April workshop, and again in November 2003, teams comprising Australian FHS specialists and staff from the collaborating country organisations (plus on some surveys, a taxonomist) carried out pest and disease surveys in Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, and Tonga. For each country, they conducted surveys across a range of plantation tree species, provenances, ages, geographic locations, site conditions and time of year, using standardised data collecting methods. They included community tree plantings and port surrounds. Insect/fungal reference collections associated with forestry, agriculture or quarantine in each country were inspected, both to assess capacity and needs and to collect information on forest pests. Equipment and materials were purchased for use by the Forest Health units. Since then, local personnel in each country have independently conducted forest health surveys according to schedules set out in their respective Country Plans.

Training sessions on forest health were organised in three countries by local project participants for forestry staff in the regions and for community groups. In Vanuatu, 30 staff from the Department of Forestry spanning five provinces and six staff from the Vanuatu Quarantine and Inspection Service attended a two-day FHS training workshop held in October 2003. Personnel trained at this workshop can now conduct forest health surveys in nurseries, woodlots, agroforestry plots and around ports. In Fiji, project staff provided training to personnel from Fiji Pine and Fiji Hardwoods Corporation on methods of forest health surveillance, and in Samoa villagers involved in community forestry projects received similar training.
In March-April 2004 project personnel from Queensland and Tasmania undertook forest health surveys in eucalypt plantations in Tasmania (around Launceston and Huon Valley). They wanted to determine the efficacy of detecting symptoms of pest and disease damage during routine forest health surveillance. Methodologies tested were aerial survey, roadside vehicle cruise, and ground surveys.
The final project workshop was held in Brisbane in October 2004. Its purpose was to reinforce training already provided, to allow Pacific participants to view first-hand some of the forest pest problems and surveillance methodologies used in Australia, and to collate and discuss data collected during the project. The major forest health needs identified in the Pacific were: increased training, increased quarantine awareness, and pest and disease identification.
One major impact arising from the project is the change engendered in the attitudes towards forest health issues within participating countries and across the region. Until now the focus in the Pacific has been primarily on pests of agriculture and horticulture but there is a new awareness of forest health and forest biosecurity across a range of stakeholder groups concerned with agriculture, forestry and quarantine in Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga, and with the forestry industry. There has been an increased level of understanding and cooperation between these groups on forest health matters and promise of future collaboration.
The project led to the establishment in the four countries of small, sustainable forest health units, which are conducting ongoing forest and port environ surveys and providing training to forestry staff and community groups. These units now have access to a network of forest health specialists in the region.
The scientific impact of the project has also been significant. The surveys conducted in 2004 by project staff in eucalypt plantations in Tasmania provided valuable information for forest managers and scientists on the efficacy of various methods of pest and disease detection currently in use in forest services around Australia and allowed calculation and assessment of cost/benefit. They became aware of how difficult it is to detect symptoms of damage by organisms such as stem borers and fungal canker at low incidence in plantation trees by any of the methods currently available. The implication for biosecurity is that an incursion of this type of pest in a forest situation is unlikely to be detected sufficiently early to allow eradication, and therefore surveillance should focus on high-risk areas around ports and container facilities.
Another finding is that overview surveillance (e.g. aerial, vantage point) combined with roadside surveys is the most cost-effective methodology for detection of gross symptoms of tree disorder such as dead or dying trees and defoliation. This is the first such large-scale testing of forest surveillance techniques in Australia. It will engender changes in routine plantation surveillance in Australia and facilitate refinement of survey methodology for smaller woodlot plantings here and in the Pacific.
The project has a web page linked to the SPC site. It contains information about the project, ACIAR, forest pests and diseases in the Pacific, and project publications including survey reports, Country Plans and instruction manuals.