Caulerpa now in BOI

[CarpeDiem 323]

48 minutes ago, K4309 said:

That, and this whole argument that it sinks, so can't be spread by currents doesn't sound fullproof. 

If your theory is right, then it should be found all the way down the eastern coast as far as the Chatham rise.

PS: Blind, not Bland

 

[K4309 61]

12 hours ago, CarpeDiem said:

PS: Blind, not Bland

 

Argh, I thought it was Blind Bay and changed it worrying someone would correct me...

Where is Bland Bay then? On the eastern side of Whangamumu (or the other Whanga-harbour, the one just north of Elizabeth Reef and Rimariki Island?)

[K4309 61]

Here is a question:

The good folk of the Barrier are known to be strongly independent. Some would say they are likely to have a deeper distrust of the government than most of us.

Noting it was an outsider that first reported the infestation in Blind Bay, the first thing MPI did was stop all the locals from fishing. Giving there is bugger all else to do on the barrier, and there isn't a Countdown, that can be a bit of a problem. After several hui MPI have let them fish in their own bays again with a bunch of rules. Effectively meaning they can only fish out of kayaks.

Knowing that MPI can't actually fix or remove the caulerpa, and that the most likely immediate outcome is they can't go fishing, do you think the Barrier locals would actually report more caulerpa if they saw it?

[Ex Machina 316]

We are under assault . Looks like the horse has truly bolted on this one .

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/waikato/300888463/invasive-clam-found-in-waikato-river-could-decimate-native-species-infest-lake-taup-and-clog-hydro-dams

[aardvarkash10 846]

2 minutes ago, Ex Machina said:

We are under assault . Looks like the horse has truly bolted on this one .

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/waikato/300888463/invasive-clam-found-in-waikato-river-could-decimate-native-species-infest-lake-taup-and-clog-hydro-dams

with a global economy comes global impacts

[Steve Pope 231]

47 minutes ago, Ex Machina said:

We are under assault . Looks like the horse has truly bolted on this one .

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/waikato/300888463/invasive-clam-found-in-waikato-river-could-decimate-native-species-infest-lake-taup-and-clog-hydro-dams

Now awaiting the link to a trailer sailers anchor!

[Ex Machina 316]

10 minutes ago, Steve Pope said:

Now awaiting the link to a trailer sailers anchor!

Yeah sorry guys I may have brought it back from the Yangtze River when I did the Asia trailer yacht champs 

[Ex Machina 316]

57 minutes ago, aardvarkash10 said:

with a global economy comes global impacts

I have a hunch it maybe to linked to global immigration and someone in Hamilton or Cambridge hankering for some downhome fried clams 

[aardvarkash10 846]

23 minutes ago, Ex Machina said:

I have a hunch it maybe to linked to global immigration and someone in Hamilton or Cambridge hankering for some downhome fried clams 

Possibly.  People are, after all, a part of the global economy

[Ex Machina 316]

Well heck . The buggers are an aquarium item and the young start life as larvae , those would be hard to detect in a fish shipment .

 

https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/3554/?pcatid=3554#:~:text=The Freshwater Asian Gold Clam is a filter feeder that,quality and lower nitrate levels.

[K4309 61]

1 hour ago, Ex Machina said:

We are under assault . Looks like the horse has truly bolted on this one .

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/waikato/300888463/invasive-clam-found-in-waikato-river-could-decimate-native-species-infest-lake-taup-and-clog-hydro-dams

I wouldn't worry about it. Tainui are in charge of the Waikato River now, and they will sort it out properly. None of this Colonialist govt departments and science and stuff.

Am I allowed to say that now? Its not politics or religion? (that part is a serious question)

Please advise if anyone spontaneously erupts by reading that post.

[waikiore 321]

I just hope that the Taniwha develops a taste for them..

[harrytom 575]

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/11/mana-whenua-s-hearts-are-broken-after-head-of-m-ori-carving-post-on-great-barrier-island-sawn-off-and-taken.html

[K4309 61]

So it's all over the BoI now. About another dozen or so sites confirmed to have it.

This is going to be a clusterfuck.

What are the odds that anchoring and fishing will be banned across the BoI this coming summer?

I'll start at 3:1

[Island Time 1,118]

The spread, to so many destinations, to me makes it look like the weather and tides moved it, not a boat....

[CarpeDiem 323]

Now that it's up there in those shallow bays the tides and currents are going to spread it everywhere. 

Boat anchors are going to play a very minimal roles. 

[Ex Machina 316]

16 minutes ago, CarpeDiem said:

Now that it's up there in those shallow bays the tides and currents are going to spread it everywhere. 

Boat anchors are going to play a very minimal roles. 

Yeah the place is rooted as far as seafloor life goes . 

[K4309 61]

1 hour ago, Island Time said:

The spread, to so many destinations, to me makes it look like the weather and tides moved it, not a boat....

What?!?!

But that is not the official narrative!!!

The govt said it was boaties, and the govt has never, ever, ever, been wrong.

Ever.

Choke.

 

 

And besides, it doesn't matter what the truth is, cause the legacy media have already told Joe Public what to think. It was those rich, entitled, white, boaties. And nothing to do with the incompetent govt.

[Steve Pope 231]

At the end of the day nature will have "her" way.  Current army worm invasion in Northland, loves eating maize / corn, any green vegetable, etc. etc. MPI suggests it came in on the wind from Aus,? not a mention that it could have also come in on imported seeds, fertiliser etc. No mention of anchors so far!!   They have only just found Caulerpa because they havn't looked before. We will find that it is far more widely spread and will, within a couple of years be looked upon as another immigrant that we don't necessarily want but will have to learn to live with. Think possums, deer, rabbits, rats, ferrets, weasels, stoats, red back spiders, various moths, plant bugs, pacific oysters, bureaucrats, jobsworths, argentine ants, aussie wood worms, magpies, mynas, hedgehogs, wasps, wallabys, feral cats, cats, dogs, us, brown and white and asian versions. etc etc etc.

[K4309 61]

Absolutely Steve,

The Barrier locals report seeing it there 5 years ago, they just didn't know what it was. Didn't sound like it had made any noticeable impact over that time in terms of the ecosystem collapsing. It was only 'discovered' there because a biologist was on holiday and put it on iNaturist, of which is posted to 6,000 times before (i.e. its his thing).

It was only 'discovered' in Rawhiti because Iwi individuals started doing patrols for it. By the shear number of locations found, it has clearly been there for a while. It wasn't transported on a single boat anchor in March, when we had 3 days of summer.

MPI have already confirmed there is no way to erradicate it. The question is what to do now?

In my view the worst move would be an anchoring and fishing ban.

If I were in charge, I'd do two things:

1) A massive education programme, focused on getting boaties and fisho's onboard, including trailer based fizz boats* (as opposed to ostracizing us). The guts of this would be how to recognise it, and how to clean your gear (anchors, fishing gear). Current MPI focus is on clean hulls, no mention of clean anchors... everyone thinks if they have a clean hull you are fine. Do you spray your anchor and chain with bleach? peroxide? urine? the ashes of juvenile kina harvested on the first day of the new moon?

2) Install public use moorings in the worst affect (and most popular) locations. Allow normal marine use, anchoring and fishing, but some pragmatic steps to slow the spread

Apparently it doesn't like light, and grows at between 25m and 47m. Those depths would explain why its gone undetected for so long. It also likes a bit of turbidity, i.e. poor viz. Obviously we've had 3 years of La Nina, with NE and shithouse conditions, include very poor viz. If we have a good El Nino, SW and hot sunny calms, the viz will improve (great for spear fishing), and the balance of the environment will shift against caulerpa. We have basically had 3 years of perfect conditions for it, including the marine heatwaves. It can also be damaged (cleared out) by major storms. So all we need is cold, clear, sunny conditions for a season or two, and we should see a retreat of caulerpa. Exactly the same was that fan worm doesn't like fresh water, this wet summer has really knocked the fan worm back.

In the mean time, I think it s a great solution for kina barrens, AND it absorbs nitrogen and phosphates from the water, i.e. improving water quality. If it re-populates all the kina barrens, we will probably end up with a net neutral ecological impact. But there is nothing we can do to influence this, we just have to sit tight.

*didymo and the South Island PR campaign to clean you fizz boat and not spread it from lake to lake is probably the best example of what I'm talking about that MPI need to do now. Fisho's anchor hundreds of times a trip (if they aren't soft baiting), and tow their boats all over the country for good weather and what ever fish is running. That, and there is easily 100 times more trailer boats in the country than keelers. So a social media campaign, signs at boat ramps and provision of washdown facilities, with specifics of how to clean your gear to kill or remove caulerpa. I've no idea how to do that at the moment.