Latest news with #SueSargent
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Experts sound alarm after invasive, acid-spraying ants spread along coast: 'It's extremely concerning'
Tiny hitchhikers are threatening the Fraser Coast of eastern Australia. Acid-spraying yellow crazy ants have been found at the gateway to K'gari, also known as Fraser Island. Locals and experts are calling for biosecurity checks to keep this invasive species from wreaking havoc on the World Heritage Site. According to ABC News Australia, "the 500,000 annual visitors to the island are not subject to routine checks and vehicles belonging to residents, tourists and four-wheel drive enthusiasts could transport yellow crazy ants or other invasive species to the island." Yellow crazy ants are number six on the Global Invasive Species Database's list of the 100 worst invasive species. The aggressive creatures came to Australia through its ports in the 1930s and have since spread to a few areas on the continent. The main concern is that these ants could travel into new areas, like the Fraser Coast, on vehicles without people knowing. Having stations where vehicles could be cleaned and inspected could help keep the ant species from spreading. "My first reaction is fear," Sue Sargent, Natural Integrity Alliance for K'gari chair, told ABC. "It's extremely concerning." The spread of an invasive species can destroy native ecology by outcompeting native species for important resources. This is especially important with the changing climate forcing some species to migrate and adapt to new environments. Protecting native species is important because native plants and animals have a synergistic relationship from centuries of evolution. Declining populations of important ecosystem members like pollinators jeopardize the food supply of the animals in the ecosystem and the global food supply. Invasive species also have important impacts on population health, sometimes driving native species to the brink of extinction. They can also introduce new illnesses to humans, such as the West Nile virus, and to plants, like the Chestnut blight. Should we be actively working to kill invasive species? Absolutely It depends on the species I don't know No — leave nature alone Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Around the world, conservationists are working to protect ecosystems and native species from invasive threats. In South Carolina, officials are working to protect honeybees from invasive wasps. Much of the United States is dealing with the invasive lanternfly. A restaurant in Phuket is dealing with invasive species by cooking them into Michelin dining. According to ABC, K'gari officials will have a biosecurity strategy completed by the end of 2025. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
ABC News
08-05-2025
- ABC News
Yellow crazy ants spread on Fraser Coast as experts issue dire warning for K'gari
Traditional owners on Australia's largest sand island say biosecurity checks are needed to stop the spread of one the world's worst invasive ant species near the World Heritage-listed area. Five colonies of yellow crazy ants have been found in the Queensland town of Maryborough, which is one of the gateways to K'gari (Fraser island). The detection follows the spread of yellow crazy ant colonies in the Hervey Bay suburb of Booral, which is near the airport and the departure point of a barge used by thousands of tourists to access K'gari every year. The 500,000 annual visitors to the island are not subject to routine checks and vehicles belonging to residents, tourists and four-wheel drive enthusiasts could transport yellow crazy ants or other invasive species to the island. Natural Integrity Alliance for K'gari chair Sue Sargent said the spread of the ants in the region meant it was inevitable they would gain a foothold on K'gari if biosecurity was not improved. "My first reaction is fear," she said. "It's extremely concerning. "We're sort of lining up for a perfect storm in terms of tourism implications and [impacts] on [threatened] species … we've got no preventative measures in place at all, so it's really a matter of time. "It would be devastating for K'gari to get this species." Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation director Conway Burns said the lack of vehicle checks meant traditional owners did not know what to expect from visitors. "We could have some kind of biosecurity set-up where we can have wash down bays where we can wash them down before they go on," he said. "It's important that we put these in place." Yellow crazy ants are believed to have originated in South-East Asia and likely arrived in Australia on cargo ships. The acid-spraying ants can form "super colonies" containing hundreds of queens and millions of ants, because they do not display aggression against one another. Their numbers exploded in the 1990s and the Queensland and federal governments committed significant resources to a successful eradication campaign in the World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics. The Wet Tropics Management Authority receives $6 million in funding per year, but the federal government has not committed to maintaining it beyond mid-2026. Queensland Primary Industries Minister Tony Perrett said the responsibility of managing yellow crazy ants outside the Wet Tropics was the responsibility of local governments. A Fraser Coast Regional Council spokesperson said the ant colonies in Maryborough had been treated but complete eradication was "unlikely at this stage". The spokesperson said the council had "a long-term strategy aimed at eventual eradication" of yellow crazy ants in the region but did not receive any state or federal funding to support that effort. Reece Pianta from the Invasive Species Council said K'gari was no less important than the Wet Tropics and deserved the same level of funding and attention. "I am concerned that they might not have the resources to deal with this threat," he said. The Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) has received a $390,000 federal grant to develop a biosecurity strategy for the island. A key aspect of the strategy is the implementation of biosecurity checks of vehicles accessing the island. BAC director Christine Royan said further funding was needed to ensure the strategy could be implemented before the Brisbane Olympics in 2032. Queensland Environment Minister Andrew Powell said news of the species' spread on the Fraser Coast was "devastating". He said his department was working with the Department of Primary Industries to contain the outbreak as quickly as possible.
The Guardian
10-02-2025
- The Guardian
K'gari at risk of being ‘destroyed' by overtourism, world heritage advisory committee warns
K'gari's world heritage advisory committee (KWHAC) has advised the Queensland government the island's ecology risks being 'destroyed' by 'overtourism', putting pressure on the LNP's promise not to cap visitation to the island. The recommendation was contained in the body's world heritage strategic plan released on Friday and contradicts the policy adopted by the new government. The environment minister, Andrew Powell, announced last month that he did not intend to set limits on visitation on the 20 busiest days of the year, as planned by Labor. According to the plan, poor management would 'destroy not only the environment, but the very experience being sought by visitors and has implications for visitor safety.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'Even maintaining the current level of overtourism will require major changes to management,' the report read. There has been a continuing spate of attacks on tourists by the island's protected population of dingoes, known as wongari . Many of the victims are children. The committee chair, Sue Sargent, said overtourism directly increased the risk of attack, by contributing to the number of animals habituated to humans. At peak periods, the island is visited by tens of thousands of tourists. Its handful of park rangers are sometimes unable to maintain rules designed to mitigate habituation of dingoes, like bans on food in prescribed areas, she said. 'The habituation that occurs during those peak days is, unfortunately, then maintained by that animal, and can result in another event later in the year,' she said. The committee also warned overtourism would dramatically increase in years to come. The department estimates 400,000 people visit K'gari annually, though the number is disputed and committee report estimates the true number at between 800,000 and one million. They expect it to double in the next decade, particularly during the 2032 Olympics. A spokesperson for the department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation said the number of camper nights and vehicle permits recorded had declined since 2022 to 328,673 in 2024. 'We have no plans to introduce a visitor cap to K'gari. The capacity of our camping areas already provides a cap on visitation,' the spokesperson said. The department does not measure the number of tourists travelling with private operators, nor the number of people in a permitted vehicle. He said 'visitor numbers provided by the BAC [Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation] and the KWHAC are estimations and not based on factual evidence'. Lorraine Woolley from the Butchulla Native Title Aboriginal Corporation said they support the idea of a cap or a fee. 'It needs more protection,' she said. 'If the island's left alone, it'll rejuvenate itself. We don't have enough rangers to do the work that needs to be done.' Sargent also proposed a $10 fee for visitation. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion She said the state is effectively subsidising tourism, because it costs the taxpayer more to maintain the island than it receives in fees. Tourists who travel with a tour already pay a permit fee through the operator. But the committee laid much of the blame at so-called 'free and independent' visitors, who travel to the island in their own vehicle. 'It's about making a system that's equitable, so that everybody going as a visitor to K'gari is contributing to the management of the island,' she said. The advisory committee contains experts in fields like geomorphology, archaeology, geography, ecology and representatives of the tourism industry, local community and Butchulla native title holders. It provides expert advice to ensure that Australia continues to meet its obligations under the World Heritage Convention. Sargent said Australia has not been a good steward of its world heritage at K'gari. 'As Queenslanders, we are very blase about the incredibly rich heritage that we have as a state. We take it for granted … not taking responsibility is a big problem,' she said. K'gari will be the subject of a World Heritage Outlook Report prepared this year. The report judged that overall threats to K'gari were 'high' and 'significant negative effects on the site's values and integrity are probable' unless management resources are increased. 'Increased visitation, biosecurity concerns and impacts of climate change are the major threats to the property,' it concluded. The department is drafting a new management plan for the island – the first since 1994 – due at the end of the year. The plan was last updated in 2005. The three-year term for the advisory committee ended on Monday.
