Zero-tolerance biosecurity protects high-conservation-value island nature reserve

Area of Science:

• Conservation biology
• Invasive species management
• Environmental protection

Background:

• Barrow Island is a critical conservation area with unique marsupials and endemic species.
• Development of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant necessitated stringent biosecurity measures to prevent non-indigenous species (NIS) establishment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail the biosecurity system implemented to protect Barrow Island's biodiversity during major infrastructure development.
• To analyze the effectiveness of the biosecurity system and identify key observations for future biosecurity strategies.

Main Methods:

• Development and implementation of a comprehensive biosecurity system for managing passenger and freight transport.
• Extensive inspections of passengers and freight over a six-year period (2009-2015).
• Statistical analysis of organism detection data and incursion patterns.

Main Results:

• Over 0.5 million passengers and 12.2 million tonnes of freight were managed with no detected NIS establishments.
• Organism detection frequencies followed a mixture log-normal distribution.
• False positive detections (native species) were estimated at 62%.
• Border detections did not predict island incursions; 59% of post-border incursions were detected by the workforce.

Conclusions:

• The implemented biosecurity system was effective in preventing NIS establishment on Barrow Island.
• Key insights include understanding detection distributions, managing false positives, and the importance of post-border surveillance.
• The findings support the application of similar biosecurity approaches for other significant conservation areas.