Dr Brad Page is our CISS Incursions Domain leader and project leader for two of our management tools projects being coordinated through CISS. He currently works with the South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) as Principal Biosecurity Officer – Pest Animals.
Brad has a PhD and research background in ecosystem-based fisheries management, including interactions between seals, seabirds and pelagic fisheries. This work required extended stints on islands in the subantarctic and Arctic to quantify the take of fish stocks by natural predators.
In his current role his focus is now on vertebrate pests. This has brought new opportunities to support primary industries, through leadership of a team undertaking applied research, policy, and management work on pest animals. The team has a proud history of research on rabbit calicivirus and has broadened in recent years to increasingly focus on feral deer, wild dogs and the SA Dog Fence.
In 2019, livestock industry leaders, including Livestock SA, the Dog Fence Board and prominent pastoralists, and Brad’s team in PIRSA succeeded in securing the $25 million ($10 million each from State/Commonwealth Governments and $5 million from the livestock industry) investment to rebuild 1,600 kilometres of the SA Dog Fence.
The partnerships Brad’s team in PIRSA formed under CISS have helped to support and influence several of the game-changing investments into research, engagement and management of wild dogs and other pests in SA.
The biggest reward is that these programs have improved the well-being of farmers and pastoralists and will help them meet the growing demands for meat and wool in domestic and international markets for decades to come.