Thursday, 1 May 2014
Press Release: Trout, 1080 And Teamwork

The New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers (NZFFA), Fish & Game, the Department of Conservation (DoC) and the Cawthron Institute are currently working collaboratively to assess the risks to trout and anglers as a result of the largest planned aerial drop of 1080 across New Zealand.

The NZFFA warned anglers earlier this year that a combination of the forecast heavy beech mast, resultant increase in the mouse population and the 1080 drop could result in trout ingesting poisoned mice. "We have always maintained that the risk is the gap in knowledge in this specific area - no research has been done to date." said David Haynes, President of the NZFFA, "So we were rapt when Lou Sanson, Director General of DoC, called us and suggested we work together on this concern". Neil Deans, manager of Fish & Game Nelson/Marlborough region acknowledged the Federation's concern at the time, "the lack of research is a valid point." he said.

At the initial team meeting it was agreed that in-field monitoring would be extremely complex and costly, both economically and to fish stocks, due to the very high number of samples required and the associated resources, time and geographical coverage needed to deliver any meaningful results. "To overcome those field study limitations, desktop simulations and a controlled laboratory-based approach can provide more robust information to assess any potential risk in a timely manner" said Louis Tremblay, environmental toxicologist for the Cawthron Institute .

Andy Cox, DoC threats manager, stated "We are pleased the project is already underway and aim to have the results available to the angling community prior to the start of the 2014 fishing season."

ENDS

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