Minimising impacts of the North Pacific Seastar in Australia

About this report

This report provides the results of the initial implementation of the Management Strategy Evaluation (hereafter MSE) for Asterias amurensis. It presents the results of stakeholder and managers workshop and examines management options for the vector ranked as the highest threat by that workshop – ballast water. Several reballasting scenarios are explored as a method of reducing the potential spread of Asterias throughout southern Australia and the consequences of uncertainty in biological parameters considered.

The MSE framework requires the explicit definition of management options, performance measures to determine the efficiency of the management options and a base model that simulates possible “real-world” scenarios to which the management options are applied. Uncertainties in the functional relationships and parameters in the base model can be simulated and the performance of management options across the range of uncertainties can be examined.

This report summarises the initial work on the MSE for Asterias amurensis. The model will be improved over the coming year. Additional meetings with managers and stakeholders will help refine the management objectives and performance criteria. Additional data inputs will help refine the outputs of the model and extend management scenarios to additional vectors.