Well, with poisoning for mice which are said to be building up into plague proportions, and the double whammy of the Plague Locust Commissions forcing people to accept spraying of the locusts, whether or not they like spraying, it is only a matter fo time till we exterminate the birds which are natural predators to the Locusts.
As an old fashioned Bureaucrat, schooled in the importance of accurate use of words, in the use of I am also fascinated quite how the Victorian Plague Locust can declare the Plague Locust an "exotic pest" under their legislation. They are not in any sense of the word, "exotic"... meaning: "of foreign origin or character; not native; introduced from abroad". They are a native insect "The Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera," Did you notice the word "Australian"?
This is reprinted from The Age July 2, 2010
Drastic action to battle 'perfect storm' for locusts DARREN GRAY, BIRCHIP
GOVERNMENT authorities will have the power to enter Victorian farms and spray locusts even without a farmer's permission, under measures to combat a ''perfect storm'' of conditions now threatening south-eastern Australia.
This spring and summer, locust swarms in Victoria could be bad enough to destroy crops, disrupt sporting events and possibly cause temporary closures of Melbourne and regional airports, the Victorian Plague Locust Commissioner warned farmers yesterday.
Gordon Berg said locusts would be declared an ''exotic pest'' under state legislation, boosting the powers of authorities to act.
''The reason for doing this is so that we can, in extreme situations, control locusts on land, even without landholder permission,'' Mr Berg told a farming expo in Birchip.
''We don't want to do that, but there may be some occasions where … a person does not want any spraying at all on their property.
''And we will have the ability to enforce that spraying, either by forcing the landholder to do it, or by coming in and doing it ourselves and billing the landholder. It's an extreme last resort, but we need to have that power available to us.''
Mr Berg said the density of some locust egg beds in Victoria was ''extremely high''. An inspection on a property at Serpentine, near Bendigo, on Wednesday revealed eggs at a density of 1000 per square foot, he said.
''We've had our mapping groups within DPI look at the spread of egg beds and where people have seen locusts. We estimate there's probably an area of something like 9.6 million hectares that is affected by locust infestations to some degree. We reckon that 2.4 million hectares may well require some sort of control treatments,'' he said.
The costs of chemicals for spraying locusts will be rebated under the Victorian Government's locust package.
Farmers were also told that a ''perfect storm'' of wet and warm weather over the past six months had created an environment that allowed locusts to breed, spread and band together in massive numbers across large areas of eastern Australia.
The ideal conditions for locusts this year have lifted survival from the normal rate of about 20 per cent to as much as 80 per cent, ensuring that a much greater than normal number of female locusts have survived into adulthood and laid eggs.
Chris Adriaansen, director of the Australian Plague Locust Commission, said about 200,000 hectares in north-west New South Wales and south-west Queensland had been sprayed in March.
''We reckon we took out somewhere in the order of 8 billion locusts. If we hadn't have done so the population that subsequently drifted south during autumn would have been much, much larger,'' he said.
Mr Adriaansen said that while a lot of work had been done, locusts were spread over a massive area in large numbers. ''It's almost the perfect storm for locusts,'' he said.
Urging farmers to keep a close eye on the commission's website, he said it displayed crucial information such as anticipated hatching dates for eggs and when locusts would be ready to fly.
Mr Adriaansen said the estimates would be modified as new weather data was included. He urged farmers to check the dates to determine when to spray.
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11 comments:
Pest plagues due to a lack of natural preditors is not a new one, and we are simply not learning from previous mistakes. Nature will look after its own if it is not tampered with.
Regards.
Hi Denis,
Thank you for sharing this information, it is so important to understand the connections and relationships between species.
Hi Denis: Agree with much said. The cyclical nature of insect plagues is also important. Nature in the short-term is not much help, as the pest-besieged Egyptians and even earlier farmers came to learn.
Thanks Le Loup, Nicola and Tony
Wise words from everyone, which shows that there are different sides to this issue.
Tony is right about cyclical population explosions, But does that give us the right to poison the planet?
These Plaque Locust Commission poisoning routines are vast and indiscriminate, that's my problem with them.
Cheers
Denis
The insecticide used for locust nymph control is fenitrothion which has a very low toxicity to birds and you make an ill informed comment that its use will exterminate birds. It is also used in a very targeted manner with only the "Bands" of locust nymphs being sprayed.
There are no natural predators able to control plagues of such scale and without control, the damage to agricultural production could be devastating.
I have just received the above comment, which is "anonymous", and so against the general code of blogging. Such a comment would carry greater credibility if the person writing it had signed a name, or preferably cited sources for the claims made.
In the subsequent posting I quoted the inconsistent advice from the APLC website about the toxicity of Fenitrothion to birds, and then its "risk assessment".
I am not making this information up - I got it from the people responsible for the spraying.
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Further comments will not be published unless "signed". Using one's own (real) name is a basic courtesy when entering into public debate.
Denis Wilson
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for raising this issue in your blog. As a farmer that will be effected by this new communist policy, it's nice to know that some other people are concerned.
Anonymous needs to do some more reading about fenitrothion. This is a snippet from the "Fentrothion Review" which clearly acknowledges the toxicity to birds.
Source
http://www.apvma.gov.au/products/review/docs/fenitrothion_env.pdf
"Detailed monitoring of avian effects from APLC operations has yet to occur, although a bird
census was commenced in October 1996. Little information is available on avian behaviour
during and after control operations, notwithstanding that locust plagues would be expected to
attract birds. Only a few avian casualties have been collected, the most notable examples
being fifteen dead black kites found dead near control operations in southwestern Queensland
in 1992, with high residues (26-92 mg/kg) found in the stomachs of three specimens
subjected to analysis....... "
Also the fact that they target the spraying on the bands doesn't make it any less damaging, because this is exactly where the other wildlife are feeding as well.
Australian Native Locust plagues are not the result of an imbalance, as so many people like to believe. They have been occurring in Australia long before European settlement. There is no evidence at all the the current "plagues" are anything bigger than what has occurred seasonally for thousands of years. They are just the result of good seasons in inland Australia. It takes some time for the natural predators to build up, this is mostly in the form of parasitic wasps, flies and natural Locust diseases. This combined with climatic changes brings an end to the "plagues". In the meantime these "plagues" provide a bounty of food for wildlife.
Throughout history these "plagues" have always ended quite quickly (one or two years) and they have always ended by natural causes.
http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/90/paper/ZO9530070.htm
All of the sprays, including the biological sprays are very toxic to numerous other species, including the natural predators of the locusts.
In 2005 I had locust bands and swarms on my farm in Northern Victoria. Wildlife were flourishing, including a flock of 2000+ Ibis that arrived to feast on the bands of nymphs. Every day Government Helicopters flew over my farm chasing the Ibis away from the Locust bands, at the same time on two occassions I was visited by Public servants who tried to pressure me to allow spraying of the locusts. I refused them permission and the wildlife contiued to flourish on my farm. The locusts caused very little damage to the agricultural produce in the area.
This time around the Government introduces this communist declaration that takes away my right to allow natural ecological balance on my land, and I will risk prosecution if I refuse to spray pesticides on my farm. If anyone can offer me any advice on how to challenge this Nazi state goverment, please let me know.
Regards,
Eris O'Brien
Here is a Youtube video of a flock of Ibis that came to feed on Locusts on my farm during October 2005. Every day government helicopters flew around my farm trying to chase the Ibis away. On two occassion I was visited by government staff who tried to pressure me to allow pesticides to be sprayed on my farm. I refused and the wildlife continued to flourish on my farm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpvJje5bJ0U
In July this year, the Victorian government, in what can only be described as a "communist policy" has taken away land managers rights to preserve nature on their land, and will now force them to spray pesticides on their land.
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2010/07/08/206771_on-farm.html
Please speak up and voice your outrage at the Agriculture Minister and the Premier of Victoria.
Regards,
Eris O'Brien
Thank you Eris, for backing me up.
I am a long-term birdwatcher, and i know that there ought be hundreds of Brown Hawks and Nakeen Kestrels on the telephone lines along roads in western NSW - and there are not. Just a very few. scattered around.
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I was furious when I read the facile denials of "toxicity".
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Your comments are very helpful indeed in casting serious doubt on what the APLC says.
many thanks and best wishes.
.
By the way, I am wary of throwing around labels like "communist", but certainly "totalitarian" would appear to fit.
From memory, it is the State Dept of Agriculture in Victoria who is imposing those rules, is it not?
.
I see it is the Victorian Plague Locust Commissioner.
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Denis
Hopefully this new totalitarian law can be revoked before irreparable damage is done.
I am not a farmer but I did grow up as one.
I have seen the proliferation of chemicals and wonder just what they have done and are doing to us and the environment.
Some ill informed reporters have been quick to label my brother Eris as a radical environmentalist. They need to open their minds and talk to him. He is a farmer and an incredibly knowledgeable self taught ecologist.
He has developed selective grazing regimes on his property that have allowed him to control weeds without any chemical use while encouraging the spread of native plants.
Locusts will come and go but this chemical Armageddon could haunt us forever.
I know that farmers have to protect their livelihoods and if they feel this is best achieved by spraying their land then that is their choice but it's not the sort of thing that should be forced on anyone!
Spraying of public land and national parks to kill a native species should never be allowed under any conditions.
So far all I have seen is a scare campaign fuelled by myth and rural legend.
No figures on actual previous crop losses and no research into alternative methods of farming to reduce the risk.
Big on scare tactics and the laughable suggestion that the locusts will stop the Melbourne cup!!!!
I guess the locust are going to knock the jockeys off their horses or the horses are going to stop in a coughing fit after swallowing a locust??
Owen O'Brien
(yes Eris is my little brother and I'm very proud of him - I wish I had half the guts he does!)
Hi Owen.
Many thanks for your comment.
I have observed some of the mad talk in recent days.
One environment group (only one) took the APLC to task for false claims about "safety" of the chemicals they use.
I cannot believe it.
Why aren't the bird observers going to town on it, especially "Birds Australia"? Small hawks, Kestrels and Brown Falcons in particular in the direct food chain for these sprays.
They live on the Locusts and on mice, which also get poisoned.
It is madness.
Part of the problem is the city-country disconnect, these days.
Out of sight out of mind.
Give my support and encouragement to Eris.
And thanks for taking the time to comment, yourself.
Cheers
Denis
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