The management of Sirex noctilio in South Africa: Standard operating procedures for monitoring and biological control operations

Sirex noctilio is a woodwasp currently threatening commercial pine plantations in South Africa. It was first detected in South Africa in the Western Cape in 1994 on Pinus radiata. By 2002, Sirex had spread along the Southern Cape and into the Eastern Cape moving onto Pinus patula. From the Eastern Cape it moved into KwaZulu-Natal where the population exploded with high tree mortality during 2004. Currently the Sirex front is moving north towards Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces where approximately 280 000 hectares of pine plantation timber is at risk. In 2002, the South African Sirex Control Programme was formed, and today exists as a collaborative initiative of the South African Forestry Industry, in partnership with the South African National Government Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and is managed through Forestry South Africa, an association representing all timbers growers in the country. Its objective is to develop and implement a strategy to manage Sirex, by reducing the wasp population to an acceptable level thereby reducing the impact and risk to South African commercial pine plantations. The Programme's strategic approach to managing the risk includes Biological Control (research and commercial initiatives), Monitoring, Awareness and Research to develop a knowledge base of Sirex noctilio. This report provides information on the standard operating procedures currently being used by the Programme for the Monitoring and Biological Control aspects.