Client | Ventia Pty Ltd
Location | RAAF bases Edinburgh and Woomera, South Australia
Service | Biosecurity Mosquito Monitoring & Management
Avisure assists Ventia, Edinburgh and Woomera Defence Precincts, Defence Service Delivery Division—Northern & Central Zone; and RAAF Edinburgh 24 Squadron Air Movements to monitor and mitigate the biosecurity risks caused by mosquitoes at the RAAF Edinburgh first point of entry (FPoE) according to World Health Regulations 2005 Article 19 and the Biosecurity Act 2015 requirements. Military airfields designated as first points of entry (FPoE) for aircraft into Australia must provide a comprehensive vector control program within a protective zone of 400 metres radius from the air terminal or aircraft parking bay.
The vector control program at RAAF Base Edinburgh must include:
• Drafting and promulgation of a Biosecurity Mosquito Management Plan with response procedures
• Risk assessment and identification of mosquito breeding areas within the protective zone.
• Implementation of a mosquito monitoring program using ovi-traps, sentinel tyres and carbon dioxide traps
• Mosquito species and gender identification
• Larval rearing (if required) for identification
• Maintenance of records to include mosquito breeding sites, monitoring undertaken, species collected, and control measure recommendations
• Submission of this data to Ventia, Defence and Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE).
In 2020, Avisure also established mosquito monitoring and management program at RAAF Woomera. This program monitored mosquito adults and larvae within 400m proximity to the FPoE, as well as hotspots within Woomera township. This program retrieved baseline data for which local species were established at Woomera and presenting a nuisance to residents, and to identify the risk of an exotic mosquito arriving and establishing at RAAF Woomera.
Avisure’s programs have been successful at initiating treatment for local mosquitoes which have become abundant, posing a nuisance to residents, or a vector-borne risk. Avisure has also detected zero exotic mosquitoes so far, indicating that on-board (aircraft) biosecurity protocols are being implemented correctly and limiting incursions.
