We conducted a risk analysis for the release of the fungus Venturia paralias for the biological control of sea spurge (Euphorbia paralias).
We began this risk analysis in response to an application to release Venturia paralias to control Euphorbia paralias. The application was submitted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
We conducted the risk analysis in two key steps:
- Released the draft report of the risk analysis for the release of Venturia paralias for the biological control of Euphorbia paralias on 6 August 2020, via Biosecurity Advice 2020/P09 for a 30 day consultation period, closing on 7 September 2020.
- Released the final report of the risk analysis on 16 November 2020, following consideration of stakeholder submissions.
The final report recommends that the release of V. paralias should be permitted, subject to standard quarantine conditions associated with the import and release of exotic biological control agents.
The final report determined the overall risk associated with the release of V. paralias to be Negligible. A risk estimate of Negligible achieves Australia’s appropriate level of protection (ALOP).
The assessment of risk to off-target plants included consideration of the testing methodology used and the plant species test list, including non-target species tested in described experiments. The biology of V. paralias was also considered.
Venturia paralias has been satisfactorily demonstrated to be highly host specific to E. paralias. A limited infection was observed on two of ten Euphorbia segetalis plants tested, and this did not result in plant death. Euphorbia segetalis is a naturalised environmental weed in Australia. The agent was unable to successfully complete its lifecycle on any other non-target plants tested.
The final report also contains details of the risk assessment process used for consideration of potential off-target effects associated with the proposed release of V. paralias.
The application from CSIRO that was provided to the department has been included with the final report.
The published application report may not meet Australian Government accessibility guidelines as it has not been prepared by the department.
Download application
| Document | Pages | File size |
|---|---|---|
Application for the release of Venturia paralias for the biological control of Euphorbia paralias PDF  |
70 | 2.0 MB |
Download final report
Download draft report
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for help.
Next steps
Publication of the final risk analysis report represents the end of the risk analysis process. If the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment approves release of the biological control agent, a letter will be sent to the applicant providing conditions of release.
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Contact us
For more information, email imports or phone 1800 900 090 (option 1, option 1).