2021 State of the Environment Report Marine Chapter – Expert Assessment – State and Trend – Viral diseases, parasitic infestations, mass die-offs

Researchers: Emma Flukes (Point of contact) ,  Hood, Yuko (Author) ,  Nowak, Barbara (Author)

Brief description The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "State and Trend of viral diseases, parasitic infestations, mass die-offs". ***A PDF of the full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "EXPERT ASSESSMENT 2021 - Viral diseases, parasitic infestations, mass die-offs"*** ---------------------------------------- DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES/COMMUNITY/PROCESS FOR EXPERT ASSESSMENT Australia has one of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones in the world, covering around 10 million square kilometres. This large marine area is shared and valued by Indigenous, commercial and recreational fishing and aquaculture, natural resource mining and shipping industries, and the general public for its marine conservation values. Threats to our marine ecosystems and natural resource assets are constant and continuous. An impact caused by aquatic animal diseases can be exaggerated by environmental stressors, such as marine water heatwave or contamination by various pollutants (ABC 2019). Various pathways of pathogen introduction to our marine environment exist, such as through imported seafood, vessel biofouling or ballast water discharge and those risks need to be managed (Deveney 2019; Georgiades et al in Press 2021). DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT NACA reporting – quarterly reports provided at the national level. ---------------------------------------- 2021 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • 2021 • Assessment grade: Good Assessment trend: Stable Confidence grade: Limited Confidence trend: Limited Comparability: Somewhat comparable • 2016 • Assessment grade: Very good Assessment trend: Stable Confidence grade: Adequate high quality evidence and high level of consensus Confidence trend: Adequate high quality evidence and high level of consensus Comparability: Grade and trend are somewhat comparable to the 2011 assessment • 2011 • Assessment grade: Very good Assessment trend: Stable Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus ---------------------------------------- CHANGES SINCE 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT Major disease outbreaks, such as white spot disease (Queensland) and Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (NSW, Tasmania and South Australia) have occurred, maybe due to intensified environmental stressors and increased pathways of pathogen introduction to our marine environment through imported seafood, vessel biofouling and ballast water discharge. This is reflected in a change in the assessed grade from “very good” in 2016 to “good” for 2021.

Lineage Statement: QUALITY OF DATA USED IN THE ASSESSMENT Good.

Lineage

Notes Credit
Peer reviews of this assessment were provided by: Marty Deveney (Marine Biosecurity, South Australian Research and Development Institute) Nicky Buller (WA State Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development)

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