Caulerpa now in BOI

[Island Time 1,235]

16 minutes ago, K4309 said:

I just read the YNZ briefings. What a disappointment. Almost all of it is copied directly from MPI, other than the glowing endorsement of David A, who didn't know about it at all as of yesterday lunch time.

I am not at all surprised YNZ doesn't have the fortitude to question or go against the govt narrative. Not a mention of the aquarium trade introduction. Even MPI's material highlight the use of caulerpa in aquariums.

Write to YNZ at the email they give on page one. I have tonight, pointing out inconsistencies and contradictions in the Briefings Newsletter....

[Psyche 633]

14 hours ago, K4309 said:

use of caulerpa in aquariums

Seems pretty careless to let into NZ in the first place, but you have to ask if there are aquarium enthusiasts on Barrier or in Rawhiti? 

[Ex Machina 366]

59 minutes ago, Psyche said:

Seems pretty careless to let into NZ in the first place, but you have to ask if there are aquarium enthusiasts on Barrier or in Rawhiti? 

Probably not , though there are some James Bond villain type mansions tucked away in the BOI , possibly with sand shark aquariums 😂.

Who knows ,  it may have been established quite awhile ago in a murky waveless corner of a harbour and has spread from there . Even Russell and Paihia/opua are murky as on a good day 

[K4309 257]

1 hour ago, Psyche said:

Seems pretty careless to let into NZ in the first place, but you have to ask if there are aquarium enthusiasts on Barrier or in Rawhiti? 

Why do you assume Barrier or Rawhiti are the epicentre?

[Black Panther 1,587]

On 13/06/2023 at 9:14 PM, K4309 said:

Fair point. I took your comment as criticism of me having the audacity to want to speak directly to the guy in charge

Sorry,  not at all. The difficulty of communicating with one  finger

[Steve Pope 243]

20 hours ago, K4309 said:

Why do you assume Barrier or Rawhiti are the epicentre?

Lyttleton harbour was the first place that Med fan worm was discovered. Didn't hit the headlines until it reached Marsden Cove many years later.

[K4309 257]

8 minutes ago, Steve Pope said:

Lyttleton harbour was the first place that Med fan worm was discovered. Didn't hit the headlines until it reached Marsden Cove many years later.

This is exactly what I'm on about. The regulatory framework across NZ is fractionated by areas of responsibility (international shipping and local cruising boats) and geographical areas. So far, they have only found it where they have looked for it. There are many, many places they haven't looked for it.

One of my favourite ruse's is to say "we have not failed any quality testing" on x, y, z, food, water quality etc. This is a true statement, regardless of weather you've carried out any testing or not. If you don't test, you can't fail a test.

I got a roasting once in a summer job as a student, doing quality testing on milk powder. I found loads of glass fragments / perspex swarf. I thought I could see something on the filter papers so used a microscope (that was sitting beside me at my work station) to confirm. Holly sh*t. Not allowed to use a microscope. The test was only for foreign bodies seen with the naked eye. But because the presence of foreign bodies was confirmed, they hard to dump a very large quantity of whey protein concentrate. I thought I'd done a good job, apparently not. Didn't get invited back 😁

[Psyche 633]

Broadly I agree with what youre saying. Its the three monkeys in action. Imagine if a coordinated regionwide program was initiated to identify seaweed. It is so easy these days, I mean take a cellphone picture of what you find on your anchor or beach or dive and text it to  0800 seaweed with time and place, in fact the photo usually contains that metadata anyway!

How hard could it be?  People do care, people do want to preserve the wilderness, how about let them in on it so they can play an active role and not solely be on the receiving end of bans with no end in sight which appear to be based on science that is incomplete? 

[harrytom 643]

8 hours ago, Psyche said:

Broadly I agree with what youre saying. Its the three monkeys in action. Imagine if a coordinated regionwide program was initiated to identify seaweed. It is so easy these days, I mean take a cellphone picture of what you find on your anchor or beach or dive and text it to  0800 seaweed with time and place, in fact the photo usually contains that metadata anyway!

How hard could it be?  People do care, people do want to preserve the wilderness, how about let them in on it so they can play an active role and not solely be on the receiving end of bans with no end in sight which appear to be based on science that is incomplete? 

Was talking too MPI today today,control not eradicate now. There thinking is treat it like didimo and are looking at getting moorings dropped at a few places where weed is to avoid anchoring.

[harrytom 643]

Forgot to mention, did ask where it might of come from .2 theories.  Passenger ships as stated in a couple of news reports and possibly with warming oceans travelled via warm currents, no mention of aquariums though. Possibly been here longer than they think.

Asian clams in Waikato river, no idea but deliberately released, they are only fumigating suspected containers where contents are unknown or from countries with known diseases, cannot detect everything.

There biggest concern is the Brown stink bug, not here yet but travels on anything, everything can be a host, unlike say Army worm which is established here, most likely travelled on plant material/soil. Being there host.

Concentration is based on pest etc that can effect our exports.

[K4309 257]

13 hours ago, harrytom said:

Was talking too MPI today today,control not eradicate now. There thinking is treat it like didimo and are looking at getting moorings dropped at a few places where weed is to avoid anchoring.

Putting out mooring buoys is an easy and logical way to mitigate the impact of the CAN's, to get boaties onboard, AND to assist in an actual sustainable long term containment strategy. And I suspect if they were done en masse the cost would be very low compared to the current regime if diving inspections, commercial divers, dive boats etc.

[Steve Pope 243]

7 hours ago, harrytom said:

Forgot to mention, did ask where it might of come from .2 theories.  Passenger ships as stated in a couple of news reports and possibly with warming oceans travelled via warm currents, no mention of aquariums though. Possibly been here longer than they think.

Asian clams in Waikato river, no idea but deliberately released, they are only fumigating suspected containers where contents are unknown or from countries with known diseases, cannot detect everything.

There biggest concern is the Brown stink bug, not here yet but travels on anything, everything can be a host, unlike say Army worm which is established here, most likely travelled on plant material/soil. Being there host.

Concentration is based on pest etc that can effect our exports.

I think you will find the "brown" stink bug is already established.

[Zozza 293]

1 hour ago, K4309 said:

Putting out mooring buoys is an easy and logical way to mitigate the impact of the CAN's, to get boaties onboard, AND to assist in an actual sustainable long term containment strategy. And I suspect if they were done en masse the cost would be very low compared to the current regime if diving inspections, commercial divers, dive boats etc.

There are limitations on most areas these days of how many new moorings you can lay, and anyway - it's not going to come close to the amount of boats that cruise and anchor in summer in the various spots in Hauraki and Northland where this weed has infiltrated.  Containment is a waste of time.  Move on and end the cottage industries of various bureaucrats that love to invent useless waste of time rules to keep themselves relevant.  

[Psyche 633]

They are doing their best

[harrytom 643]

1 hour ago, Steve Pope said:

I think you will find the "brown" stink bug is already established.

aparently not yet,but give it  time

 

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is an agricultural, horticultural, and social pest. It's native to Asia and has spread throughout North America and Europe. It isn't established in New Zealand, but this sneaky pest hitchhikes on passengers and imported goods.

[Sudden5869 17]

Looks like divers have now found small, 20cm to 30cm patches of the underwater plant growing in the Hauraki Gulf near Kawau Island.

Will we get an anchor ban around or near Kawau? 

https://i.stuff.co.nz/science/132504837/immediate-action-needed-after-invasive-seaweed-found-near-auckland

[harrytom 643]

16 minutes ago, Sudden5869 said:

Looks like divers have now found small, 20cm to 30cm patches of the underwater plant growing in the Hauraki Gulf near Kawau Island.

Will we get an anchor ban around or near Kawau? 

https://i.stuff.co.nz/science/132504837/immediate-action-needed-after-invasive-seaweed-found-near-auckland

suspect if they look hard enough the gulf will be a mat in several direction from the barrier,tides stop for no man

[K4309 257]

I see that Stuff story dropped this one line from the MPI press release:

"Divers found small 20 centimetre to 30 centimetre patches of the seaweed in the North Channel, north-west of Kawau. Finding exotic Caulerpa in another area of Tāmaki is disappointing but not unexpected given the nature of the seaweed.

Wonder why the wouldn't mention it was found in North Channel?

Very strong tidal flows there, and very few, if any boats ever anchor there. If it was found in Bon Accord then the propoganda about boats spreading it might be true. Not so much when its found in the location with the strongest tidal streams in the district.

What they are saying does not match the reality.

Plan for immediate actions after pest seaweed found around Kawau Island, Auckland | NZ Government (mpi.govt.nz)

[harrytom 643]

5 hours ago, K4309 said:

Divers found small 20 centimetre to 30 centimetre patches of the seaweed in the North Channel,

The question is,why did they dive there,very strong currents. Did someone report it as found on anchor??

[Psyche 633]

Closing Kawau to anchoring is going to be  a tough one, North Channel maybe but Bon Accord?  Maybe this is how its going to play out,  extensive areas of the gulf off limits to recreational boating but at some point there will need to be a public forum on Caulerpa if the only policy is no anchoring zones.

End of Gulf cruising, IDK but I am wondering if MPI are the right agency to manage this as their mission statement seems a bit of a mish mash. If you get on their site, it appears their raison d être is to support the commercial sector. Biosecurity is a big thing to MPI, but it seems they have failed miserably by allowing caulerpa into NZ for the aquarium trade if that is the source, or being aware of how it could be transported via shipping and taken steps to mitigate it.

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