Latest News
New Zealand-first caulerpa treatment trial set up in Bay of Islands today
Northland Regional Council divers have today set up a New Zealand-first caulerpa attack tool in the Bay of Islands.
The new-to New Zealand approach is being trialled by Northland Regional Council (NRC) and Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in an isolated patch of caulerpa in Albert Channel. It uses swimming pool chlorine tabs under a large heavy black tarpaulin attached to the sea floor with the equivalent of giant tent pegs, in a two-pronged attack on the superspreader invasive seaweed.
The tool has been successfully used to fight caulerpa in California. Technical specialists from around New Zealand recently attended an online meeting with Californian caulerpa experts to learn more about tools to fight the pest.
NRC divers put down the trial treatment tool in place today on a small, isolated patch of caulerpa about 500 metres outside the boundary of the government’s less than 24-hour-old Controlled Area Notice (CAN) legally banning anchoring and fishing.
The isolated patch of about one square metre of caulerpa has been covered in a 12 square metre heavy black tarpaulin anchored to the sea floor with tent pegs.
More than 1000 hectares of the Bay of Islands moana now has a fishing and anchoring ban due to new government biosecurity controls and a mana whenua rāhui in the wake of caulerpa being found across 200 hectares of the iconic New Zealand visitor marine destination. The bans took effect yesterday, 12 June.
NRC marine biosecurity specialist Kaeden Leonard said four chlorine pool tabs expected to kill the plant had been put on top of the caulerpa. The heavy black tarpaulin went over the top of this. It was aimed at starving any of the runners that spread horizontally out from the plant of light.
The tarpaulin covers an area three times bigger than the caulerpa clump. Its use aims to also seal in the chlorine chemical to maximise the chemical’s impact.
A second adjacent much smaller area of caulerpa has also been treated with a single chlorine tab and covered in a one square metre of tarpaulin.
NRC divers will return to the site to check progress in a month, monitoring in the meantime.
NRC marine biosecurity officer Toby Dickson checks the New Zealand-first caulerpa treatment trial he and the council team have newly set up in the Bay of Islands on 13 June 2023. Photo: Supplied/ Brett Sutton, Marine Environmental Field Services
The trial is located near Mahenotiti Island and is hitting the additional small isolated caulerpa patches found in NIWA’s eastern Bay of Islands surveillance checking late on Friday afternoon.
Specialist NRC divers will continue to carry out surveillance dives in the immediate area of this isolated outcrop of Bay of Islands exotic caulerpa to provide confidence that all exotic Caulerpa around the trial site has been located.
Mats covering the sea floor have been used in Great Barrier Island caulerpa treatment trials that used huge quantities of salt to try and kill the pest. However, these mats were hessian.
The Bay of Islands’ trial technology has previously been used in California to treat small areas, but of a different species of the exotic pest called caulerpa taxifolia. This type of caulerpa is known as aquarium caulerpa and can make people sick. It contains a toxin to prevent animals from eating it. The toxin accumulates in the flesh of fish which eat caulerpa taxifolia, this in turn getting passed on to humans. Caulerpa taxifolia is banned in Aotearoa.
The Bay of Islands caulerpa infestation is made up of caulerpa brachypus and caulerpa parvifolia, the same two species as are found on Great Barrier Island – only about 100 kilometres to the south by sea from the Bay of Islands. These two species are not toxic.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
VIA RNZ
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
rnz
Police say person who fired gun at officers still at large
New Zealand sides named for RLWC finals
Parliamentary Service working on extra chairs and offices for increased number of MPs
-
Latest News2 months ago‘Chilling’: Business groups speak out against National’s supermarket break-up plan
-
NZ News2 months agoTom Phillips report: The missed opportunities to find the children
-
Politics2 months agoNational vows to try to split Pak’nSave and New World
-
Latest News2 months agoCars bearing Chinese police markings stir unease in Auckland
-
Fiji News2 months agoPlans to have new Constitution by Dec 24th 2026
-
NZ News2 months agoCop who stole $68,000 can now be named as champion Muay Thai fighter Haimona Tamati-Te Paki
-
Politics2 months agoMBIE confirms botched biometric projects costs blown out to $50.7 million
-
Latest News2 months agoFive Karangahape Road venues lose their liquor licences after police intervention