Education for cleaner harbours

CLOSE INSPECTION: Biosecurity educator Sterling Cathman inspects a boat moored in Nelson marina.

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Everyone knows how important it is to keep their bottom clean, right? When it comes to boats, the answer isn't always "yes".

A fresh effort in Nelson and Marlborough aims to educate the dirty boat owners of all types through a campaign emphasising the importance of maintaining New Zealand's marine biosecurity and explaining how much is at stake if standards aren't lifted.

The Top of the South Marine Biosecurity Partnership brings together the Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough councils with port companies, iwi, marina operators, scientific institutes, the Ministry of Fisheries, MAF Biosecurity New Zealand and other government agencies.

A pilot programme for the rest of New Zealand with $60,000 from MAF and another $60,000 shared equally across the three councils, is being run by the five-man part-time team of co-ordinator Peter Lawless, Dave Rees, Matt Malloy, Simon Graves and Sterling Cathman.

There have been six recorded incidents of unwanted marine life entering the top of the south in the past decade.

The worst was the introduction of the slimy filter feeder Didemnum vexillum.

It rapidly overgrows structures and shellfish and has become a significant aquaculture pest, costing marine farmers and the Marlborough District Council hundreds of thousands of dollars in control efforts, and might also have a substantial impact on natural environments.

Mr Cathman, who teaches science at Victory School and in other schools around the district, says this perfectly illustrates the risks of lax biosecurity. Boats with fouled bottoms aren't a risk when they stay moored in the one place – when they move to another area, it's a different story.

So a big part of the partnership's work is in trying to educate recreational and commercial boat owners about the risks and how to handle them.

It is distributing an information booklet to boaties, which emphasises the "keep your boat bottom clean" message. It also details what to do if you find something that looks different when boating, fishing, diving and at the beach. You should note the location, collect a sample or photo and phone 0800 809 966 right away.

Mr Cathman says a big part of the partnership team's role is working with the various partners and acting as a conduit or a buffer between them.

"A lot of the time councils don't work well with each other, or they might not work well with the ports, so they come to us.

"The marine farmers don't want to deal with Fisheries, because they look at Fisheries as the police, which they are. We're kind of the middleman. We're getting everybody to co-operate."

He says the aquaculture industry has a lot to lose from biosecurity breaches and is pro-active in trying to prevent them, "but there's always going to be the rogue operator".

Yacht and launch owners are usually equally receptive, but again this isn't always the case – and it might only take one to, for example, spread the invasive seaweed undaria from Port Nelson, where it is established, to the Abel Tasman coastline, where it is not present.

It's all about education rather than regulation, he says, with the partnership providing a fresh outlook on marine biosecurity in a way that isn't happening elsewhere in New Zealand.

MAF Biosecurity NZ has identified six major international pests to guard against – two types of crab, a starfish, a small clam, a fanworm already found at Lyttelton and a marine aquarium weed.

"It only takes a crab or one of these little organisms and the whole mussel population of the top of the south could be devastated. The potential is huge," Mr Cathman says.

The task, then, is to make marine farmers, boat owners and operators and everyone using the coastline to "have them integrate a marine biosecurity consciousness in what they do," he says.

- © Fairfax NZ News