Corporate leadership council australia

112345Reviewof the Threat Abatement Plan6for Psittacine Beak and Feather 7Disease Affecting Endangered 8Psittacine Species(2005)91011121314June201215161718
21.Executive summary1920The Threat Abatement Plan for Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease Affecting Endangered 21Psittacine Specieshas been reviewed as required under the Environment Protection and 22Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.The actions that have been undertaken to abate the 23threat from the disease as identified through the actions, goals and objectives of the threat 24abatement plan have been assessed. 2526The assessment has identified that there has been an improvement in coordination and the 27Australian Wildlife Health Network has the potential to capture relevant information. 28However, dedicated funding would be required to establish a good system to capture 29psittacine beak and feather disease information and disseminate thisto stakeholders.3031Appropriate hygiene and disinfection protocols have been developed for captive populations 32of parrots and cockatoos. A number of different research projects have studied the virus and 33started exploring the potential for the development of a vaccine but there are still gaps in the 34knowledge about the virus, apparent immunity of some psittacine species and transmission. 35The Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease Working Group identified in 2009 that the 36development of a vaccine is the highest priority researchaction needing to be undertaken. 3738The threat abatement plan identified the need to undertake surveillance of wild psittacine bird 39populations. This has not occurred to any extent, probably because of the high level of 40resources that would be required to undertake such a task. The threat abatement plan also 41identifies the need for identification and implementation of management actions for psittacine 42beak and feather disease in the listed threatened species. Action under this goal has been 43undertaken through recovery planning for each species, although the degree to which the 44disease is identified in the relevant recovery plans for each of the species ranges from the 45disease being a threat to specifically not a threat or unknown. The funding provided to the 46listed threatened species through the Caring for our Country program was assessed and it has 47been concluded that there is limited on-ground action being taken to directly abate the threat 48from psittacine beak and feather disease. None of the projectsummaries identified disease as 49an action to be addressed.5051Therefore, it must be concluded that, while some action has been undertaken and there is now 52good information exchange occurring, the two goals of the threat abatement plan have not 53been met. That is, the likelihood of extinction or escalation of the threatened species status of 54psittacine birds has not diminished; and the likelihood of psittacine beak and feather disease 55becoming a key threatening process for other psittacine species is not diminished.5657The threat abatement plan is at a stage where 12 of the 26 actions in the plan have been 58completed, and a further seven are partially complete. It is concluded that there are still 59actions outstanding that may be able to contribute to abating thethreat but that the current 60threat abatement plan requires a new direction to refocus the threat abatement actions. 61Further, because the key threatening process of Psittacine Circoviral (beak and feather) 62Disease Affecting Endangered Psittacine Speciesis still valid, there remains a need for threat 63abatement. 6465A separate optionspaper will explore the options available to the Minister to assist in abating 66the key threatening process of psittacine beak and feather disease affecting endangered 67psittacinespecies.686970