A mobile phone app designed to detect brown marmorated stink bug is being trialled by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia David Littleproud said if the app was successful, it would be a huge benefit for biosecurity detections.
“Brown marmorated stink bug is a huge risk for Australia if it were to get loose on our shores,” Minister Littleproud said.
“It has the potential to destroy more than 300 agricultural and ornamental plant species, including vegetables and fruit, and hammer native ornamental species.
“Brown marmorated stink bugs look a lot like other native species of stink bugs, which are harmless. This can lead to confusion and false sightings.
“Thanks to the CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, working with Microsoft technology, we’re now trialling an app that can learn to tell the difference between a destructive stink bug and a harmless one.
“CSIRO’s National Research Collections Australia, which contain local and foreign stink bugs, was used by experts as a reference when training the app.
“It’s a real-time triage tool that improves surveillance outcomes, allowing our experts to spend less time checking out a harmless bug and more time looking for the real threat.
“We’re working with biosecurity officers to see how it goes in the real world. What’s important now is figuring out the use, reliability, and accuracy of the app.
“It’s still early days, but if this app goes to plan it’s another tool in our arsenal to keep Australia’s biosecurity strong and protect Australia’s industry, economy and environment.”
