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Safe and effective biocontrol of common carp

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, Article number: 0134 (2017) Cite this article

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To the Editor — Invasive species have had devastating impacts in Australia, and continue to be a major problem1. A potential biological control programme for one such species, the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), is being developed for Australia. However, Lighten and van Oosterhout2 express fears about the release of cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3, formerly known as koi herpesvirus3) as a biocontrol agent. Here we respond to their concerns.

First, in any biological control programme, safety for non-target species, including humans, is paramount. Carp are an important farmed fish in the world4, but despite severe CyHV-3 epizootics over the past 20 years, there is no evidence of human infection nor adverse ecological consequences in any species other than carp. In addition, we demonstrated that CyHV-3 does not replicate, let alone cause disease, in a wide range of immunologically immature native fish, lampreys, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mice and a freshwater crustacean5. This is also consistent with the fact that, despite almost-global distribution, CyHV-3 has never been associated with disease in any other species, including other closely related cyprinid fish. Although the evolution of new host associations cannot be excluded, the ability of herpesviruses to jump hosts has been inferred using phylogenetic approaches considering evolutionary events over millions of years6, not the decades expected of this control strategy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO-Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, 3220, Australia

    Kenneth A. McColl

  2. CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Canberra, 2601, Australia

    Andy W. Sheppard

  3. Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Canberra, 2600, Australia

    Matt Barwick

Authors
  1. Kenneth A. McColl
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  2. Andy W. Sheppard
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  3. Matt Barwick
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kenneth A. McColl, Andy W. Sheppard or Matt Barwick.

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Competing interests

This work was funded, in part, by the Invasive Animals Co-operative Research Centre, Australia.

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McColl, K., Sheppard, A. & Barwick, M. Safe and effective biocontrol of common carp. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 0134 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0134

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