Senator The Hon. Murray Watt, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management, The Hon. Clare Scriven, Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development (SA), Joint Media Release, 14 October 2022
Kangaroo Island’s reputation as a pristine environment will be further strengthened, with a world-first dedicated sterile blowfly breeding facility to be built on the island to help eradicate sheep blowfly.
A brownfield site will be transformed into a state-of-the-art insect breeding centre, at which up to 50 million flies a week will be bred and irradiated to be sterile before release.
Located at the Kangaroo Island Resource Recovery Centre and operational by mid-2023, it will be built from shipping containers and will be in place for up to five years. It can then be redeployed elsewhere within South Australia to continue the program.
Local Kangaroo Island building company Kauppila Pty Ltd has been awarded the siteworks contract. Adelaide-based GAAS Shipping Containers will provide the modified shipping containers to build the mobile facility, and radiation equipment will be provided by Bio-Strategy Pty Ltd.
The news about the sterile blowfly facility comes as a project to eradicate feral pigs from the island nears completion.
Commenced in the wake of the devastating 2019-20 bushfires, the project has removed 861 feral pigs, with fewer than 30 pigs estimated to remain. The final thermally assisted aerial cull will take place between April and June 2023, which is expected to eradicate feral pigs from the island.
The three-year $5.6 million program to eradicate feral pigs is a partnership between the Department of Primary Industries and Regions, the Kangaroo Island Landscape Board and National Parks and Wildlife Service, who work closely with Livestock SA, KI Land 4 Wildlife and other local stakeholders, including landowners, to find and destroy feral pigs. It is funded by State and Commonwealth Government Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
Both projects have been made possible through the Local Economic Recovery Program, funded by the Australian and South Australian governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. $3.5 million was provided for the sterile blowfly facility, with additional funding provided by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions.
Quotes attributable to Murray Watt
Kangaroo Island’s remoteness means it has a unique environment that is free from many pests and diseases found on mainland Australia. It’s also an ideal testbed for technology to eradicate introduced pests like sheep blowfly and feral pigs.
Soon, a patch of dirt at the KI Resource Recovery Centre will be transformed into a high-tech insect breeding facility. It will play a key role in the effort to rid the island of sheep blowfly, which will prevent flystrike in the island’s sheep, meaning no need for mulesing or chemical management of sheep blowfly.
Quotes attributable to Clare Scriven
Not only is this project supporting animal welfare and helping local producers by reducing costs associated with managing sheep blowfly, it is also injecting funds into Kangaroo Island as the community continues its bushfire recovery.
The project will engage local trades where possible for construction and maintenance; as well as create up to six positions. I can see a time when we will be rolling this technology out to prevent flystrike on the South Australian mainland in coming years.
Similarly, the Australian-first use of thermal imaging in the feral pig cull has paved the way for this technology elsewhere, including the recent Fleurieu Peninsula and Limestone Coast feral deer culls, which destroyed close to 1,600 feral deer.
I commend the team for the success of the program to eradicate feral pigs from the island. It has been a result of patience, persistence and effective collaboration between government and local stakeholders.
