A policy review to consider the risks associated with the importation of washed ware potatoes from other Australian states and territories was initiated on 22 February 2016.
The policy review will follow a pest risk analysis process to determine the biosecurity risks associated with importing washed ware potatoes, and provide the scientific justification for any recommended phytosanitary measures.
The pest categorisation is the first step of the process, and identifies pests that:
- are absent from Western Australia
- are associated with the washed ware potato pathway
- have potential to establish in Western Australia
- would be of economic concern should they establish in Western Australia.
The Plant Biosecurity Policy group assessed 430 organisms associated with potato production in Australia. From this list of potential pests, 5 invertebrates and 31 pathogens met the above criteria to satisfy the definition of a quarantine pest according to the International Plant Protection Convention:
‘A pest of potential economic importance to the area endangered thereby and not yet present there, or present but not widely distributed and being officially controlled.’
These quarantine pests will undergo further assessment in the draft policy review to estimate the biosecurity risk they pose to Western Australia, and any necessary import conditions required to provide an appropriate level of protection for the state.
The draft policy review will also be released for consultation, providing the opportunity for stakeholders to comment and draw attention to any gaps, assumptions or errors in the scientific and technical data.
Quarantine pests identified as associated with imported washed ware potatoes:
| Scientific name | Common name |
|---|---|
| Invertebrates |
|
| Cheiroplatys latipes (Guérin-Méneville, 1831) | potato scarab |
| Hapatesus (Hapatesus) hirtus Candèze, 1863 | potato wireworm |
| Rhizoglyphus robini Claparède, 1868 | bulb mite |
| Rhopaea magnicornis Blackburn, 1888 | rhopaea canegrub |
| Sericesthis geminata Boisduval, 1835 | pruinose scarab |
| Pathogens |
|
| Alternaria protenta E.G. Simmons, 1986 | early blight |
| Boeremia foveata (Foister) Aveskamp, Gruyter & Verkley, 2010 | gangrene |
| Carlavirus Potato virus M | Potato virus M (PVM) |
| Cylindrocarpon obtusisporum (Cooke & Harkn.) Wollenw., 1916 | black-foot (grapevine) |
| Cylindrocladium clavatum Hodges & L.C. May, 1972 | brown-eye |
| Dickeya zeae Samson et al., 2005 | bacterial soft rot |
| Ditylenchus dipsaci (Kühn 1857) Filip'ev, 1936 | stem nematode |
| Fusarium flocciferum Corda, 1831 | dry rot |
| Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum W.C. Snyder & H.N. Hansen, 1940 | dry rot |
| Fusarium poae (Peck) Wollenw., 191 | dry rot |
| Globodera rostochiensis Wollenweber, 1923 | potato cyst nematodes (PCN) |
| Helicobasidium purpureum (Tul.) Pat., 1885 | root rot (vegetables) |
| Monographella cucumerina (Lindf.) Arx, 1984 | microdochium blight (cucurbits) |
| Nucleorhabdovirus Eggplant mottled dwarf virus | Eggplant mottled dwarf virus (EMDV) |
| Phacidiopycnis tuberivora (Güssow & W.R. Foster) B. Sutton, 1980 | dry, corky stem-end rot |
| Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary, 1876 | late blight |
| Potato spindle tuber viroid | Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) |
| Potexvirus Potato aucuba mosaic virus | Potato aucuba mosaic virus (PAMV) |
| Potyvirus Potato virus A | Potato virus A (PVA) |
| Potyvirus Potato virus Y biological strains D and N, and phylogenetic group NTN | Potato virus Y (PVY) |
| Pratylenchus goodeyi Sher & Allen, 1953 | root lesion nematode |
| Pratylenchus jordanensis Hashim, 1983 | root lesion nematode |
| Pratylenchus loosi Loof, 1960 | root lesion nematode |
| Pratylenchus pratensis (de Man, 1880) Filip'jev, 1936 | root lesion nematode |
| Pseudomonas marginalis pv. marginalis (Brown 1918) Stevens, 1925 | soft rot |
| Pythiogeton ramosum Minden, 1916 | soft rot |
| Pythium deliense Meurs, 1934 | watery wound rot or shell rot |
| Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith 1896) Yabuuchi et al., 1996 | bacterial wilt |
| Sarocladium strictum (W. Gams) Summerell, 2011 | black bundle disease (corn) |
| Verticillium albo-atrum Reinke & Berthold, 1879 | Verticillium wilt |
| Verticillium dahliae Kleb., 1913 (VCGs not present) | Verticillium wilt |
Stakeholder registration
In addition to the departmental website, DAFWA uses a stakeholder register for distributing policy information to relevant parties.
To register to become a stakeholder and receive information via email for the washed ware potato policy review please click here to fill in the registration form.