Ms Jessica Sabatino1
1Torres Strait Regional Authority, Thursday Island, Australia
The Torres Strait Islands represent a unique and ecologically significant region. Being located between Australia and Papua New Guinea, they face biosecurity risks from invasive animals and plants. Currently, the main biosecurity focus is on the north-south risks, however, the south-north and inter-island risks are more important to Torres Strait Islanders. One of the main threats, cane toads, are currently only present on ‘transport hub’ islands such as Horn (Ngarupai) and Thursday Islands (Waiben). This causes a regular ‘rain’ of cane toad incursions onto other islands. Although, there are not known breeding populations on other islands, their establishment is imminent. To prevent their spread in the Torres Strait, tightening biosecurity controls is needed, as well as early detection of new incursions and a rapid response. Since 2018, the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) has worked in collaboration with JCU’s TropWATER to develop a cane toad environmental DNA (eDNA) monitoring system for the region. eDNA monitoring has been used across Torres Strait Islands to check for cane toad incursions. TSRA Rangers are already stationed on islands across the Torres Strait and are able to collect representative samples. Rapid eDNA surveys have been conducted in response to cane toad detections (e.g. at Erub), and suspected incursions (e.g. following discovery of dead monitors on Muralag). Collected eDNA samples can easily be used to test for multiple species of concern. With minimal training in sample collection, local rangers are able to survey for a variety of invasive species without the need for species identification.
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