Pest removal from port

Pest removal from port

A team of marine biosecurity divers from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council will begin work to remove marine pest, the Mediterranean Fanworm, from Gisborne Port on Tuesday 30 June.

“The Fanworm is definitely a pest we don’t want establishing in our region, as it has the potential to cause significant economic and environmental impact,” says shared services science manager Lois Easton.

The dive team’s focus will be to inspect and remove the worm from the marina and any vessels in it, the wharf and the inside of the training wall. They will also identify structures and habitat types for a second inspection stage which will be undertaken in a repeat visit in a couple of weeks.

“It particularly likes to establish itself on hard structures (like jetties and pontoons) and the hulls of boats, but can also grow in soft sediments, on a piece of shell – pretty much anything.”

“Because it is the breeding season for the fanworm at the moment, it is critical that we get a dive team into the water to check for and remove any fanworm from the area,” says Ms Easton.

“They would collect the worms in bags by hand and then we will send them to the Ministry of Primary Industries to check to see if they have bred this season or not.

The BOP Regional Council marine incursion response team have been dealing with this pest in Tauranga Harbour.

Mayor Meng Foon says containment is the key.

“We are grateful for their expertise and assistance.”

Once this initial response is completed Council will need to work with the port, DoC, iwi and other stakeholders about how we better manage marine biosecurity going forward.

“There are about 9 invasive marine species at the moment that are at risk of coming into our region, so we will probably want to put in place some ongoing processes around how we better manage to prevent these coming in.”

The work will be jointly funded by the Gisborne District Council and the Ministry of Primary Industries.

“I support the collaborative efforts,” says Mayor Foon.

ENDS

© Scoop Media