[Darren Hammond]

I received the following from MAF…

Greetings

The North Island is still didymo free, so it is timely to remind your members that
the “Check Clean Dry” process is still vitally important in keeping the North Island
didymo free.
With the rapidly approaching Easter break, being a traditional time for South
Island trips, I would like to draw your attention to some new “tramping and hunting”
based information and resources that MAFBNZ have available.

MAFBNZ are the lead agency for Didymo awareness and response. Their website
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/didymo has the most up to date information on how to
decontaminate items that have been exposed to freshwater. It also has maps of where
didymo is currently found ( but that should be treated as indicative only, because
testing on rivers is carried out at different time intervals). It is best to assume
that all freshwater you enter may have didymo in it, and that the next river has
none.

There is also specific didymo information on the DOC website
http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/threats-and-impacts/biosecurity/didymo/ that
also links to some areas that have specific didymo controls to protect special
areas (Fiordland and Stewart Island)
If you would like to get more information on didymo, how to decontaminate specific
items and what is happening locally please feel free to contact me.

I hope to see you in the hills sometime.

David Moss
Technical Support Officer – Freshwater Aquatic Pests / Kaim?tanga – Orot? Wai M?ori
Wellington Hawke’s Bay Conservancy, Department of Conservation
181 Thorndon Quay, PO Box 5086, Wellington 6145
Phone 04 472 5821 Fax 04 499 0077 DDI 04 819 7633
VPN 8443 Cell 027 236 8819 http://www.doc.govt.nz <http://www.doc.govt.nz/>

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