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Foot and mouth disease

​​​​What to look for

  • fever, drooling and reluctance to move in cattle, pigs, sheep, buffalo, deer, camelids and goats
  • blisters on the mouth, snout, tongue, lips or between and above the hooves on the feet; blisters may be intact or ruptured, exposing raw, painful tissue.     

Example of blistering on the mouth

Black sigatoka

Caused by Pseudocercospora fijiensis

black sigatoka image

 

What to look for

Narrow, rusty, reddish-brown streaks on the undersides of banana leaves and smaller corresponding streaks on the upper surface.

Moving goods from, within and to Torres Strait

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry regulates the movement of goods from the Torres Strait under the Biosecurity Act 2015.

Torres Strait islands are a potential pathway for the movement of exotic pests, weeds and diseases present in countries very close to Australia—the closest Torres Strait Island of Saibai is only 3.6 km from Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Biosecurity in Torres Strait is critically important to the sustainability of the region.

Aircraft arriving on the Australian mainland from Torres Strait

​​​​The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry regulates the movement of aircraft, goods and passengers from Torres Strait under the Biosecurity Act 2015.

This includes the monitoring of aircraft arriving on mainland Australia from designated biosecurity zones in Torres Strait, to assess any biosecurity risks posed by the aircraft or goods and passengers on board.

Modernising Australia’s approach to managing established pests and diseases of national significance: Discussion paper

​​On 1 June 2015 the (then) Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (now the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) and the National Biosecurity Committee (NBC) published a discussion paper, "Modernising Australia’s approach to managing established pests and diseases of national significance".