Emergency Management
The role of emergency management is to respond to the dectection of potential new pests and to control and eradicate any new pests before they establish large populations.
The Australian Emergency Marine Pest Plan (EMPPlan) 
PDF [1.7mb] has been developed to respond to pest emergencies.
This plan sets out the roles, responsibilities and actions that must be undertaken when a new pest is detected.
The EMPPlan is consistent with the emergency response model in place for animal and plant emergencies in Australia.
Under the EMPPlan, the Consultative Committee on Introduced Marine Pest Emergencies (CCIMPE) is responsible for coordinating an emergency response at a national level, whilst the affected state or Territory does the on-ground work.
Cost sharing arrangements for these eradication responses have been agreed between the Australian Government, the states and the Northern Territory.
The decision to activate the EMPPlan is based upon an assessment that the pest concerned is likely to have a significant impact on Australia's environment, economy, amenity or human health.
To ensure Australia can respond quickly in the event that a new pest is detected, a trigger list of target species (CCIMPE trigger list) has been developed comprising species that are likely to have significant impact if introduced. A contingency is available to consider other marine pests that also meet relevant criteria to warrant an emergency response.