Killer toxin found
By CARALISE MOORE - Rodney Times
DEAD DOLPHIN: Further tests on dolphins, especially their stomach contents, are likely to be known on Friday, August 21. This one from Sandspit is believed to have been caught in a set net.
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Researchers have found the toxin responsible for killing dogs visiting Auckland beaches.
It is tetrodotoxin, common in tropical pufferfish.
Authorities are keeping warning signs at Rodney and Auckland east coast beaches until further tests are completed.
Lethal pufferfish were found on some Rodney beaches last week. Three washed up within about 10 metres of each other just south of the Orewa surf club.
They were reported to a biosecurity hotline but a bio- security spokesman says they were not significant in number and unsuitable for disease testing.
Pufferfish can be lethal if eaten or even touched.
Tests done by Cawthron Institute found tetrodotoxin in the vomit of one of the dogs that died after visiting Narrow Neck beach, and in a sea slug sample taken from that beach.
How the sea slugs came to contain the toxin is unknown and investigations are continuing.
Auckland Regional Council monitoring of east coast and Coromandel beaches found evidence of dead sea slugs only at Narrow Neck and Cheltenham beaches, which tends to suggest the issue is localised, it says.
But the Auckland Regional Public Health Service says tetrodotoxin may also be what poisoned dogs on other beaches.
The health service says dogs and children should be kept away from Hauraki Gulf beaches.
Marine life is not to be handled, particularly dead animals, and people are not to swim at beaches where warning signs are placed.
The warnings didn’t stop a number of surfers venturing out in Rodney during the weekend.
Rodney District Council warning signs will remain on a number of Rodney beaches advising people not to swim or eat shellfish.
The regional council is monitoring Auckland beaches for sea slugs and will do tests on any samples for the toxin.
Pet owners are advised to contact a veterinary clinic if pets develop symptoms after being on the beach.
People developing symptoms within about an hour of exposure to sea water or sea life should seek immediate medical attention.
Deaths of pilchards, penguins and dolphins are still being investigated with results on dolphins expected on August 21.
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority says there is no evidence to suggest commercial shellfish or seafood in the Hauraki Gulf is unsafe.
Routine sampling of commercial shellfish in the gulf has revealed no dangers.
If members of the public find unusually large numbers of fish and other dead animals they should report these to the MAF Biosecurity New Zealand emergency pest and disease hotline 0800-809-966.
A biosecurity spokesman says while increased public vigilance was appreciated it had led to multiple reports of the same dead puffer fish.
ARC head accused of taking cheap shot
Federated Farmers are unimpressed that ARC chairman Mike Lee suggested farmers could be a possible cause of an Auckland toxic algae bloom. Tetrodotoxin is found only in marine animals.
“Cows are not pufferfish Mr Lee, so man-up and apologise for what was a cheap shot at agriculture,” says Federated Farmers board member Philip York, says.
