00:02Expecting and not wanting it to happen, but it was inevitable that it would spread to
00:08marine mammals given what we've seen in other jurisdictions around the world.
00:13So with this one seal death now recorded, how likely is it do you think that we will
00:19see more?
00:20I think it's highly likely we'll see more.
00:23I'm assuming the seal did die of H5N1 given that it tested positive.
00:28It's just their proximity to each other, they're gregarious animals.
00:32They live in the environment where all the infected birds are as well and obviously they
00:36do move around.
00:37So it's highly likely that there will be more mortalities associated with this, not just
00:41in long-nosed fur seals, but likely in other seal species in Australian waters.
00:47Yeah, look, the long-nosed fur seal isn't currently endangered, but does this increase the threat
00:55to other endangered seals as well, such as the Australian sea lion and other species?
01:01Yeah, absolutely.
01:02In terms of seeing, we're now seeing avian to mammal transmission in Australia, which
01:06has not been reported previously.
01:08And we know from what's happened in South America and in the sub-Antarctic that pretty
01:14much once we start seeing avian to mammal transmission, that that will continue.
01:17And then it is likely that we'll see mammal-to-mammal transmission as well.
01:21So while the long-nosed fur seal is not endangered or considered vulnerable, it's certainly, you
01:27know, one of the top predators in our marine ecosystem.
01:31And so any impact on those populations will be really significant for the ecosystem in general
01:37and then for those individual animals that are unwell and die from the disease.
01:41Yeah, Rachel, can you give us a bit of an idea of, you know, what you have seen unfold overseas
01:48in relation to the bird flu spreading to mammals and I guess what you're sort of preparing
01:56to see here potentially?
01:58Yeah, I think we're preparing to see something not great.
02:02I was in the sub-Antarctic in 2023 when a couple of months after it started to hit down
02:08at South Georgia and other islands and it was pretty devastating to see lots of dead southern
02:14elephant seals predominantly, but also some fur seals and we did start to see some clinical
02:19signs in birds at some sites as well.
02:22Very sobering to see mass mortalities of animals and I guess if what happens, what happened there
02:29is going to happen here in Australia, then we will likely see mass mortalities of multiple
02:34species, not just avian species, but obviously mammalian species and it has shown what we've
02:41seen globally that marine mammals are particularly vulnerable because they congregate together,
02:46because they are with those species that do have the virus and because their environments
02:52are contaminated by the virus from those mortalities.
02:55So what sort of efforts are underway across Australia to try to get a handle on the spread
03:01of this disease before we start to see those sort of mass mortalities that you're concerned
03:08about?
03:08Well certainly surveillance is really key so that we can actually identify where it is
03:13and that's been done fantastically by Sadi and Pursa in South Australia and associated
03:19with the Department for Environment and Water.
03:21So surveillance is really key, testing is really key and then if there are ways to mitigate
03:26other threats that are present in the environment, then possibly that's another avenue to try
03:32and enhance the resilience of individual populations as well as populations as a whole.
03:38So not just so colony specific as well as population wide mitigation that can be done.
