Aquaculture industry urges action on sea squirt
The AFL owned company Sealord Group and other aquaculture industry spokespeople have urged Bio-Security New Zealand to respond faster to the invasive pest, sea squirt.
In mid October Radio New Zealand reported Sealord CEO, Doug McKay's concerns at Bio-Security's slow response to the outbreak of sea squirt in New Zealand harbors.
"The impact this could have on the industry if it took hold would be immense, in framing terms it would be the equivalent of foot and mouth disease. That's not being overly dramatic, this is an industry that employs 30 thousand people and is the countries fifth biggest export earner. As an industry we want to see Bio-Security and the government move from evaluating this pest to eradicating it. Where we find it we need to destroy it."
The sea squirt or clubbed tunicate is a leathery club-shaped organism that grows up to 160 mm long. It is a prolific breeder, spawning on average every 24 hours. The sea squirt settles in protected areas such as bays and harbours and is mostly found on wharves, aquaculture structures, boat hulls and mooring lines. They grow over shellfish like mussels and oysters starving them and also feeding on the shellfish larvae, reducing yields and increasing costs of harvesting and processing.
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| Photo: Cawthron Institute |
The Chairperson of The New Zealand Aquaculture Council and CEO of award winning export company Clevedon Coast Oysters, Callum McCallum, said Bio-Security had known sea squirt was present one month before they put divers in the water to access the extent of the infestation.
"It's just a matter of getting people into the water and killing this pest. We need to make it quite clear that aquaculture is only one area that will be affected. This threatens everybody involved with the marine environment from fishers, boaties and divers; if it's allowed to take hold sea squirt will take over from native species and affect everyone, even customary harvesters.
"Overseas methods of eradication started with hot water or acetic acid sprays but it was discovered the best way of getting rid of sea squirt was getting in early and physically pulling them off whatever they're attached, if you do this they don't grow back," Mr McCallum said.
In response to criticism levelled at Bio Security for moving to slowly, team manager of surveillance and incursion, Ron Thornton said that eradication was their priority but any action had to be measured and effective. The extent of the infestation first needed to be assessed and they had 15 people working full time on the problem. He said that if getting into the water and pulling out hundreds of thousands sea squirts was the best response then that is what they would do.
Chief Executive of the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council, Owen Symmans, has said that industry urged Bio Security New Zealand to act immediately and pledged industry support to identify strategies for eradication of the pest.
"We are very concerned about the discovery of sea squirt in New Zealand harbours, it is a considerable and difficult problem overseas. This could have very serious consequences for aquaculture and the wild shellfish sector and we're very keen to ensure that appropriate action is taken quickly", Mr Symmans said.
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