Around 60 people gathered at a public meeting held at Onetangi Hall on Wednesday 23 October to gauge public appetite for a controlled area notice in the area where exotic caulerpa Caulerpa brachypus and Caulerpa parvifolia has been found in Onetangi Bay and extending around Thompson’s Point.
Ministry for Primary Industries director for pest management John Walsh said that there are three main factors that are taken into consideration when a controlled area notice is considered: the density of the caulerpa, the size of the area it is spread across and whether there is a lot of vessel movement in the area.
Waiheke currently ticks off two of these. The coverage is not considered dense at this stage, but it is spread across 400ha (which is the second largest area of it after Aotea Great Barrier) and there is a lot of vessel movement in the area, especially during summer months.
• Tessa King
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