Stakeholder Update 29 May 2006

Robust Community meeting in Turangi

A meeting of concerned groups and residents of Taupo and Turangi has started looking at positive ways it can prevent the spread of didymo into the Central North Island river systems – in particular the Tongariro.

The meeting looked at the possible impacts and the various ways it could adopted some of the measures used by groups in areas already affected by the algae. The meeting also expressed concerns about the effectiveness of the “border” at Picton. BNZ advised that signage at Picton and other points of exit from the South Island would be beefed up.

BNZ has also offered all regional councils in the North Island free public awareness signage.

Delimiting Survey

A national didymo delimiting survey has been completed with no positive results for the North Island.

In the South Island, didymo was found in the Upukerora, a river in the Te Anau catchment, The Gowan in the Buller catchment, the Twizel and Ohau Rivers in the Waitaki catchment and the Fraser River in the Clutha catchment. All of these catchments are close to or have been previously affected by didymo. The survey sampled 284 rivers in both the South and North Islands.

Meetings

We will be travelling around the South Island in the next few weeks to update councils and stakeholders on the didymo response. We will also be holding workshops exploring future didymo management partnership options.

Science

We continue to have regular science updates for stakeholder via a regular teleconference. If you wish to join these conferences please let us know by replying to this email. To prevent any congestion please limit it to one person for each organisation.

Again we would like to thank everyone for their help and assistance in slowing the spread of didymo.