Didymo News
Biosecurity New Zealand has strengthened Didymo control efforts with a South Island-wide Controlled Area, enhanced public awareness activity and a $1 million summer research programme into potential control tools, but personal responsibility remains the key tool in reducing its spread.
The national Didymo survey has all but been completed with no further finds of the invasive alga. The last find was reported a week ago from the Von River near Queenstown, bringing the total known affected rivers to eight. However, river users should not assume any river to be free of Didymo and should continue to clean items that have been in contact with water before using in any other New Zealand waterway, Biosecurity New Zealand Team Manager, Surveillance and Incursion Response Amelia Pascoe says.
A sample from the mouth of the Von River near Queenstown has been found to contain Didymo cells, but further work is required to determine the extent of its presence in the river, Biosecurity New Zealand announced today.
Jetboating New Zealand has agreed to exclude all rivers known to be affected with Didymo from the World Jetboat Marathon and complete intensive cleaning of boats between rivers, allowing the event to proceed, Biosecurity New Zealand announced this afternoon.
Surveys of the Northern third of the South Island have not found any more rivers affected by the invasive Didymo alga, Biosecurity New Zealand announced today.
Testing of North Island rivers for the presence of the invasive Didymo algae will start on Friday 7 October 2005, Biosecurity New Zealand (BNZ) announced today.
Biosecurity New Zealand is calling for precautions to be taken on all South Island rivers with the confirmation that Didymo has been found in the Hawea River, and a further suspect find from the Travers River in the upper Buller catchment still being analysed.
It is likely that a Controlled Area will be declared on the Buller in the next few days, prohibiting use of the Buller River if users are intending to use other rivers. BNZ is working with local councils, DOC and Fish and Game to identify and contact river users. BNZ is aware that the fishing season starts on Saturday and that the whitebaiting season has already started.
The appeal comes as BNZ faces a last minute hitch in imposing a controlled area on the rivers, which it had hoped to have in place for the start of the whitebait season on August 15. The controlled area notice is a more formal measure to contain the algae than the public awareness campaign conducted since the algae was first identified last October. It will control access to the area by permit and make it an offence to remove any item from the controlled area without one.
Hawkes Bay residents will next week have the opportunity to help Biosecurity New Zealand (BNZ) determine the economic, environmental, cultural and social values of the region’s rivers and streams.