Our sea country and the NSW marine estate, its environmental and economic assets, is facing increased pressure as a result of the extensive connectivity between our global waterways. Introduced marine pests and diseases pose considerable environmental, economic and social impacts by disrupting the delicate balance of our marine ecosystems. With an extensive coastline and multiple vectors, and a range of challenging pathways to understand and manage, the ongoing detection and response to high priority marine pests and diseases is a considerable challenge for NSW.
To mitigate this risk, NSW Department of Primary Industries takes a holistic approach to the management of these threats by incorporating both ‘passive’ surveillance, which is reliant on community driven data, and ‘active’ surveillance, composed of routine surveillance at priority locations. Increasingly, due to budget constraints and shared areas of responsibility, collaboration with key stakeholders is crucial to forward looking management planning for marine biosecurity. Aided by case studies, this presentation will focus on the collaboration and technology that form our defence against incursions and enables rapid response to outbreaks, and provide insights to future challenges and recommended strategies.