SYDNEY, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Australia's state of Western Australia (WA) has abandoned efforts to eradicate an invasive beetle species that has destroyed thousands of trees and will instead focus on limiting its spread.

Jackie Jarvis, WA's minister for agriculture, on Thursday announced that national authorities met on Wednesday and determined it is no longer feasible to eradicate the polyphagous shot-hole borer from the state.

The pest beetle species was first detected in WA in 2021, triggering the biggest biosecurity response in the state's history to prevent it from spreading into agricultural areas and across Australia.

Also known as the tea shot-hole borer, the invasive beetle damages and kills trees by tunneling deep into the wood and spreading a pathogenic fungus that blocks the system that allows a tree to transport water and nutrients to branches and leaves.

It has affected more than 500 tree species worldwide and is considered a major threat to tea, avocado, citrus and cacao crops.

Since its initial detection, it has caused the destruction of more than 4,000 trees in the state capital of Perth and prompted the establishment of a quarantine zone from which it is prohibited to remove any untreated plant material.

Jarvis said that the biosecurity response will now transition to a management phase to slow its spread, limit the impact on healthy trees and protect the horticulture industry.

She told reporters that chief national biosecurity officers initially determined that eradication was possible but that the science has now changed.

WA's Deputy Director General of Biosecurity and Emergency Management Mia Carbon said that strategies to eradicate the beetle were not keeping up with the rate of its spread and that continued eradication efforts would now require taking out every host tree in the Perth area.

The state government has allocated an additional 26.5 million Australian dollars (17.2 million U.S. dollars) in funding for the biosecurity response. ■