title: Zero-tolerance biosecurity protects high-conservation-value island nature reserve.
abstract: Barrow Island, north-west coast of Australia, is one of the world's significant conservation areas, harboring marsupials that have become extinct or threatened on mainland Australia as well as a rich diversity of plants and animals, some endemic. Access to construct a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant, Australia's largest infrastructure development, on the island was conditional on no non-indigenous species (NIS) becoming established. We developed a comprehensive biosecurity system to protect the island's biodiversity. From 2009 to 2015 more than 0.5 million passengers and 12.2 million tonnes of freight were transported to the island under the biosecurity system, requiring 1.5 million hrs of inspections. No establishments of NIS were detected. We made four observations that will assist development of biosecurity systems. Firstly, the frequency of detections of organisms corresponded best to a mixture log-normal distribution including the high number of zero inspections and extreme values involving rare incursions. Secondly, comprehensive knowledge of the island's biota allowed estimation of false positive detections (62% native species). Thirdly, detections at the border did not predict incursions on the island. Fourthly, the workforce detected more than half post-border incursions (59%). Similar approaches can and should be implemented for all areas of significant conservation value.
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.|CSIRO Land and Water, Private Bag 5, P.O Wembley, WA, 6913, Australia.
authors.forename: John K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia. S.McKirdy@murdoch.edu.au.|Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, 250 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia. S.McKirdy@murdoch.edu.au.|Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, 6150, Australia. S.McKirdy@murdoch.edu.au.
authors.forename: Simon J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6578-5521
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: McKirdy
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, 250 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.
authors.forename: Johann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Merwe
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|87 Rosedale St, Floreat, WA, 6014, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Burbidge
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth, WA, 6151, Australia.
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pickles
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth, WA, 6151, Australia.
authors.forename: Darryl C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Hardie
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|Department of Parks and Wildlife Western Australia, 17 Dick Perry Avenue, Technology Park, Western Precinct, Kensington, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|Department of Parks and Wildlife Western Australia, 17 Dick Perry Avenue, Technology Park, Western Precinct, Kensington, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Kendrick
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.|Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, 250 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.
authors.forename: Melissa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, 250 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.
authors.forename: Kristin L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Horton
authors.affiliation: Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, 250 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.
authors.forename: Simon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, 250 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Downs
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, 250 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|E-Systems, 205 Davey Street, Hobart, TAS, 7000, Australia.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stoklosa
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, 250 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lagdon
authors.affiliation: Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, 250 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marks
authors.affiliation: Quarantine Expert Panel, 905 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia.|4 Devon Rd, Swanbourne, WA, 6010, Australia.
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nairn
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers, School of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George St, Brisbane QLD, 4001, Australia.
authors.forename: Kerrie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mengersen
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D062312:Islands