Steve Pope
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Posts posted by Steve Pope
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7 hours ago, K4309 said:
Ah, but oil from the Niagra is not a biosecurity incursion. So Biosecurity NZ aren't responsible.
And its nothing to do with Primary Industries, so the Ministry or Primary Industries aren't interested either.
Fairly sure that NRC aren't responsible UNTIL oil leaks. Until then, the oil is the responsibility of the ship owner. Oh, and as it was sunk in an act of war, insurance wont cover it.
So someone needs to trot off and find the ships owner, and convince them to salvage the oil before its too late. But as you see, our fractionated and siloed bureaucracy wont deal with it.
PS, I read somewhere ages ago, last time this came up, that the oil is supposed to be wax like, or very thick, and any attempt to salvage it is likely to substantially increase the risk of a disaster. Esp if they heat it to get it viscous. I think they are hoping it will just stay a guey blob on the bottom of the sea.
My thought was, purely and simply, here is something that we can actually do something about. Re the oil being wax like, there have been many reports over the years of an oil film on the surface, nah its just wax, Yeah right!!
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The Niagara (ship) has re-appeared in the news once again, sunk in the 2nd world war in the Hauraki gulf (by a German mine) It was heading for Canada and was fully bunkered. Read "Stuff" article for much more detail. I would suggest that this is actually something that the Govt, NRC, ARC etc. could actually do something about, rather than spending their time pursuing (us). by doing a Don Quixote, tilting at windmills, in the form of Caulerpa and fan worms.
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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.
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2 hours ago, Psyche said:
nice boat, I like the swing keel for cruising
Having sailed an alloy 2 x swing keels CB yacht for the last 18 years I doubt I would ever go back to a fixed keel, They open up so many more areas to anchor or just sniff around. Up in the Islands the bommies that had the keeler skippers on edge were never on our worry list.
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47 minutes ago, Ex Machina said:
We are under assault . Looks like the horse has truly bolted on this one .
Now awaiting the link to a trailer sailers anchor!
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6 hours ago, Ex Machina said:
Anywhere could’ve been the vector not just Auckland . If for example if it was off an anchor the boat could’ve have been heading north , stopped at mercs first then Barrier . That puts every harbour and domesticated inlet south and inshore of the mercs in the realm of possibility
I believe the fanworm first was found in Lyttleton harbour, long befor it was discovered in Auckland.
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5 hours ago, aardvarkash10 said:
Thanks K
1) Perhaps I misconstrued your message. Accepted - thanks for hte clarification, and please accept an apology.
2) MPI has said it is possible / probable. Thats not blame, its asserting a hypothesis. It's a realistic hypothesis, as is tidal drift etc.
3) There is no hard evidence for anything about it except for its existance (and its spread through tidal movement). It could have come from a number of sources, some more likely than others. Thats doesn't mean boats are not the cause, nor does it mean they are the main cause - the fact is, no-one knows at this point.
4) This assumes all boaties follow the rules. Collisions on the harbour, illegal fishing and other activities tell us this is not true in all cases.
5) He may beleive it, and it may be a plausible hypothesis. But, just like the recreational boating as a vector hypothesis, that doesn't make it true.
6) I will accept your word that it was. However, we are not in the Med. The cause and vectors MAY be different here - and potentially the variety may also be different.
7) How many singaporean tankers park up in Tryphena?
MPI has, according to their public information, tested salt as a solution. Its not viable give nteh size of hte spread area and hte collateral damage salt treatment leads to. I don't have the expertise ot question any of the other methods you mention, but I do note they sound expensive! MPI, like all govt deparmtents, is limited by its budget and hte public's appitite for tax takes. That's just a political and operational reality.
NRC are no doubt miffed, andthey are also cash strapped.
As to whether MPI is doing a "great job" I don't know. I don't have expertise in the control of invasive aquatic pests and therefore I am not in a position ot understand if the response is appropriate or not. In their defence, they are charged with controlling pests and threats to our ecology and our economy in a very open, very import dependant economy which has for years run a highly permissive approach ot potential risks - not just biological ones either. I do know that, like most Govt departments, they have been defunded and divested of expertise over many decades. Thier inability (if its true) to respond appropriately would not be surprising.
This may well be a situation where your concerns of organisational (as against individual) ineptitude are well-founded. But I just don't know.
Cheers
All of NRC's "bottom" diving, videoing, recording etc. has been funded by MPI. (from our taxes) At least that is what we were told at their "Fanworm" seminar in Whangarei a few months ago.. Strapped for cash?? they have just built an "office" in Dargaville. $9.2 million is the cost to rate payers on top of the almost $500,000 (from the provincial growth fund) they paid for the property. This was ostensibly to house the 2 staff members who had to drive from Whangarei and back every work day. They have sublet the surplus space to the Kaipara District Council, who have now vacated their older offices, 50m up the road (that were quite sufficient) prior to the NRC doing their expansion act. This will cost Kaipara District Council ratepayers $300,000 + in rent per annum. The NRC also plans to increase their yearly rates by approximately 10% every year for the next ten years. It is their planned budgets and delusions of their own importance that is out of whack. They do it? because they can!
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4 hours ago, MartinRF said:
I have a 60C (bought in 2004 if memory serves) but can't help you as it still works and is used.
/Martin
Thanks for the reply Martin, Around the same age as mine. I am going to miss it if I cannot find a replacement part, or repair it. There is a useful online clip telling you how to remove the parts for replacement, but no mention of availability. And Garmin say no parts! Just be aware that apparently this breakage is apparently quite common.
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I have a Garmin handheld GPSmap60Cx, a wonderful wee unit that has worked marvelously all around the world for almost 20 years. That is, until I put new batteries in it yesterday. It lit up, then went dark. The problem / failure turned out to be one of the metal battery terminals had broken at the "spring hinge" point. Looking online Garmin do not seem to have spares. (if they ever did?) Is there anyone with one of these that has failed, though not from a failed battery terminal, and that they still have it in their pile of once useful bits and pieces. Please PM me if you can help.
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Just now, Steve Pope said:
Goose Barnacles on one of the single handed round the world Yachts, in Tasmania, I think. Thet all left France (Brittany) with clean newly antifouled hulls. The ones (who have made it non stop) had to dive and scrub at sae.
I think they are the same as the ones on the log.
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Goose Barnacles on one of the single handed round the world Yachts, in Tasmania, I think. Thet all left France (Brittany) with clean newly antifouled hulls. The ones (who have made it non stop) had to dive and scrub at sae.
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1 hour ago, Ex Machina said:
Sounds straightforward ….PVC tarps , chlorine , some good underwater operators and approval from wherever it needs to come from and soon not next year when it will cost 100s instead of 10s of milliwongas
Given that it appears that chlorine is considered for eradication of unwanted sea flora, "they" must realise that if used it will kill all the things that TBT apparently used to kill so well, that we are now no longer allowed to use it?
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47 minutes ago, aardvarkash10 said:
Sigh.
Moving dangerously close to a political argument here folks.
Back on topic please.
*Removes moderator hat*🥳🥳
Didn't consider regional councils as 'politics" and Yes Cameron it is "we" who pay, generally without any say, control, or consideration as to how the spend of the tax / rates take is going to bite us on the Bum!
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Given that the Regional councils charge us for using "their" waters (mooring fees, beacons, and can even stipulate the contractors you must use for mooring inspections perhaps we should be sending them a bill for not keeping "their" waters free of unwanted organisms.
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57 minutes ago, Guest said:
I agree with measures on international shipping, and should be more rigorous, but that domestic boat movement is the prime propagation system once the pests are here is not logical.
Don’t mind if they penalise pest farms on moorings, along with marinas and any man made structures .Rather than pass on cost, you should be given the option of diy eradication under prescribed method say in your birth.
To sail with weed, fan worms, barnacles on the hull is the last thing any sailor wants. As we all know a clean hull is a "faster" hull. That antifoul coatings have been dumbed down to the point of almost being useless, in fact the manufacturers could probably be charged with false advertising, of course the price of it is as high as ever. The Authorities want us to conform to "their" requirements, in my experience very few of them have any knowledge of sailing, and say it is their way or the highway.
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25 minutes ago, Island Time said:
I have one. Don't use it often - actually almost never. But I should....
likewise.
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2 minutes ago, K4309 said:
Re the Poor Knights, it wouldn't surprise me that, as it is a very healthy natural ecosystem there, fanworm can't get established there because of the natural competition.
Fanworm only appears to do well in barren areas, like marinas. I've seen the odd one around on rocky shorelines. But that was before the wettest summer on record. Fascinating how all this fresh water kills them.
I spent 3 years on the water in Greece, Turkey, Italy, France, Tunisia etc. back in the 1970's I never knowingly came across a fan worm. There were certainly some very barren areas, the odd fish, octopus, pelagic fish passing through but no fan worms.
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The best and most reliable way of these organisms historically have moved around the world is the tides, currents etc. it is the way they have always spread, up to the arrival of our consumer society in the 1970 / 80's ( which is a 100% commercially orientated, world trade agreements) Why is Galaxy Feta sold as a Fonterra product when it is actually a product made in Denmark? If you buy bacon look at the print that shows where it has come from, up to 20 different countries, none of which would meet the stringent rules that our Pork producers now have to conform to to. In the next few years we won't have any piggeries in NZ. We sell our high quality coal overseas, then we purchase the lowest, cheapest quality from Indonesia to produce electricity. The problem is US, you and me!!
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Interesting article in the Advocate re "new seaweeds " (Caulerpa Brachypus and Caulerpus Parvifolia) infestation currently found on the barrier and Gt Mercury. The article berates the government for doing little to restrict its growth, or its effective removal from NZ waters, apparently 100 tons of it washed ashore on the Barrier during Cyclone Gabrielle. The article mentions that Delaware in the US managed to rid itself of an infestation in 17 days, when? how? etc. etc. not explained. It will probably help reduce the Kina barrens, whether that is a good thing or not is yey to be seen? I wonder what will feed upon it? But I can see another industry being set up to monitor it and check our hulls etc.
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European insurance Co's love you for not having one if custard arrives and you want to put in a claim.
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It is of a round ball appearance and is black, no less than .6 of a metre in diameter flown on the forepart of the deck. They are generally 2 flat discs that are keyed together to appear as a ball. Being flat they stow well when not in use.
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Who flys the anchor shape, when at anchor? who actually has one?
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I think whether we talk about Blackberry, Gorse, Star fish, wasps, fan worm, possums, human beings, etc.etc. It is just nature doing what nature has always done. Every species wants to survive, where ever there is a gap or weaker species the next one up on the ladder will take advantage. There are no bleeding hearts in nature. (Actually there are lots, those who are being eaten by a more rapacious species) NZ having been separated from any close neighbours for Eons falls into the weaker species group, there apparently being no serious predators here until (we) mankind arrived. So much has changed / happened that we are ALL directly responsible for. So many things are from unintended consequences. Wonderful intentions! OH but I didn't think of that or it would / could happen! Bugger! How things change, possums no longer look into car headlights, they turn their head away as they sprint for the road side. They also now avoid Tims traps.The moment I pick up a fly swat and especially a battery powered one, they go into panic mode and keep as far away from me as possible. AH, rainy day, must be something more to do, maybe kill some snails?
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56 minutes ago, CarpeDiem said:
Sure.
And there's research on the damage fan worm causes to the marine environment. That research has been used to inform the current controls that have been forced upon us.
But if someone considers the research flawed/incorrect/faulty or politically motivated then providing said research has no value...
I think the elephant in the room is that the marine environment is the Fan worms, not ours, our interest is economic not environmental. Think mussel / oyster farming etc. (after all the "pacific " oyster arrived the same way as the fan worm, and now it is an industry! Most things that have arrived in NZ whether on the wind from Australia or by sea from the Mediterranean or by ship or on an aircraft with us They all thrive in the NZ environment.
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Caulerpa now in BOI
in MarineTalk
Posted
Guess as much as you like! We will never know! Though I think it well suits the Bureaucrats to blame yachties, we are a reasonably widely dispersed group, without a voice, or organisation, who would put their head above the breakwater to speak on our behalf.!!