Dr Mark Schipp on indigenous knowledge exchange in surveillance activities

Northern Australia surveillance 

As we celebrate NAIDOC Week 2022, I wanted to highlight how Indigenous knowledge is an essential component of our biosecurity and disease surveillance efforts across northern Australia. The extensive and often remote northern coastline of Australia has a number of unique challenges that make it a high priority for national biosecurity.  

The region is also in close proximity to our northern neighbours, as for example the Torres Strait island of Saibai is only 3km away from the Papua New Guinea coastline. Australia’s northern neighbours have a number of significant pests and diseases not present in Australia. This proximity, coupled with tropical cyclones, monsoonal wind patterns, tidal flows and migratory movements of wildlife including bird and bat species, enable pests and diseases to enter Australia naturally.  

Northern Australia has an abundance of host species, including feral animals, enabling new pests and diseases entering Australia to potentially establish and spread. The low human population density in northern Australia compared to other areas of Australia impacts on our ability to detect and respond to pest and disease incursions early. 

Indigenous knowledge 

In surveying northern Australia for exotic animal, aquatic and plant pests and diseases, the department’s Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) relies heavily on the support of Indigenous rangers. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have had extensive knowledge of Australia’s plant, aquatic and animal ecosystems for over 65,000 years. 

NAQS has contracts with over 60 ranger groups, who complete a variety of fee-for-service activities including community animal health surveillance and supporting aerial feral animal surveys. NAQS veterinarians collaborate with Indigenous rangers when planning feral animal surveys to elicit local knowledge of the area and ensure respect for country.  

^{Image: NAQS post-mortem training with Dhimurru Rangers (credit: NAQS-DAFF)}

Rangers also contribute to aerial surveillance through delivery of fuel and supplies to remote locations. NAQS invests in Indigenous rangers through community animal surveillance activities, which provide veterinarians with on-ground information from over 70 rural and remote communities. 

While NAQS’ targets are generally pests and diseases of human and agricultural concern, these diseases may first surface in animals that have become important sources of bush tucker for Indigenous groups in northern Australia, such as birds, feral pigs and buffalo.  

Part of Australia’s strong biosecurity system 

Indigenous knowledge of country and awareness of changes in animal health or behaviour are vital tools in creating and maintaining a biosecurity network across northern Australia – to protect our agricultural industries and environment. NAQS complements these knowledge systems by providing Indigenous rangers with post-mortem workshops run by veterinarians. Through these workshops, rangers learn about the symptoms of exotic diseases and also how to protect themselves from zoonoses when hunting. 

There are currently several significant emerging disease threats in the region to Australia’s north, including lumpy skin disease and foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia, and African swine fever in Indonesia, Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea. Additionally, there are a number of other pests and diseases that present an ongoing risk to northern Australia, including rabies in Indonesia and Old World screw-worm fly which is present in Indonesia, Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea. 

Another example of disease surveillance in action includes our department’s One Health collaboration with other agencies and Indigenous Rangers on Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) surveillance, such as the Tiwi Rangers who regularly undertake mosquito trapping activities. 

^{Image: Tiwi Rangers undertaking mosquito trapping as part of JEV surveillance (credit: NAQS-DAFF)}

NAQS also collaborates with Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities (AMRRIC) to support improved animal health surveillance in remote Indigenous communities. The department funded an AMRRIC project to enhance biosecurity capacity in remote Indigenous communities. By supporting the employment of over 40 local community members, the project is improving Indigenous community animal health surveillance capacity, through the collection and reporting of community animal health and biosecurity data via their custom-designed AMRRIC App. 

The Indigenous knowledge that our department can draw on and collaborate with, is invaluable and helps to ensure that the animal disease surveillance activities NAQS undertakes across northern Australia are strong and dynamic, and able to protect Australia’s animals, environment and people. 

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 

In closing, I would also like to advise that our department has recently been renamed the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), however within the Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer, our remit remains the same – to advise the Government on all matters relating to the maintenance and improvement of Australia’s animal health status and the systems that support it.  

For the latest updates on the work of the Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer, please follow my social media channels on LinkedIn and Twitter.