Assessing Harvested Populations of the Euro (Macropus robustus erubescens) in the Barrier Ranges of Western New South Wales.

Abstract

Macropus robustus is one of several macropod species harvested commercially in Australia. In New South Wales the major areas where M. robustus impacts on land management practices, and hence harvesting occurs, are the New England region in the northeast, where the subspecies M. robustus robustus (the Wallaroo) occurs, and the Barrier Ranges region in the west, where the subspecies M. r. erubescens (the Euro) occurs. Assessing the size and trend of populations is an important aspect of harvest management. There has been no assessment of M. r. erubescens population size or trend in the Barrier Ranges. An aerial line transect survey in a 3350 km survey area encompassing the Barrier Ranges returned an estimated population size of 18,000 ±3,000 (SE) animals. This estimate is likely to be substantially negatively biased. Following this survey, a quota (the maximum number of animals that can be taken in a year) of 2400 was set for commercial harvesting of M r. erubescens in the Barrier Ranges region, representing a maximum annual harvest rate of 13%. Recommendations for improved methodology to reduce bias in future surveys are provided.