Abstract
Pest carp species are a problem around the world, particularly in Australia where European carp (Cyprinus carpio) account for up to 90% of fish biomass in several major river systems. The Australian National Carp Control Plan investigated the feasibility of using a biological control agent (Cyprinid herpesvirus 3; CyHV-3) to control carp. CyHV-3 is a naturally occurring strain of carp herpesvirus, found in numerous countries, but is exotic to Australia. This study reports outcomes of social risk assessment, measuring public acceptability of the viral biocontrol, societal norms and attitudes towards carp and carp control, emotional reactions towards the use of CyHV-3 to control carp, and perceived virus efficacy. Analyses identified a very strong partially mediated path model, explaining a high proportion of variance in the acceptance of CyHV-3 as a viral biocontrol (R2 = .83). The model showed a strong influence of attitudes towards CyHV-3 (e.g. whether people saw the virus as good, wise, pleasant, safe and positive), personal attitudes towards carp control, and social norms on acceptance, mediated by perceived virus efficacy (R2 = .77), emotional disturbance (R2 = .69), and perceived humaneness of the virus (R2 = .47). The strongest direct predictors of acceptance were perceived virus efficacy and social norms. These results provide important insights into drivers of social acceptability and social risk perspectives associated with novel biocontrol, assisting biosecurity practitioners in their planning and decision making for the introduction of potential biological interventions.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the National Carp Control Plan (NCCP) for the opportunity to undertake the social risk assessment for the release of the Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) for carp biocontrol in Australia. We also appreciate the assistance of Peter Caley from CSIRO in generating a map for us.
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This research was funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Australia via the National Carp Control Plan on behalf of the Australian Government.
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AM and AZ conceptualised the study with support from LC and MC; AM and AZ designed the instrument, collected, and analysed the data; AM and AZ wrote the manuscript with contributions from LC and MC. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript.
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This research was approved by the relevant Social Science Human Research Ethics Committee, in accordance with the Australian National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (Ref: 103/17). Participants provided informed consent to participate in the research and for use of their anonymised collated data in the development of written reports and publications.
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Mankad, A., Zhang, A., Carter, L. et al. A path analysis of carp biocontrol: effect of attitudes, norms, and emotion on acceptance. Biol Invasions 24, 709–723 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02679-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02679-1