Environment - Pest Management
Lake Weed Extraction Programme
Much concern has been raised by several Ngāti Tūwharetoa hapu including Ngāti Turumakina and Ngāti Kurauia about the issue of excess weed in Lake Taupo. In response to these concerns, applications were made to the Tūwharetoa Genesis and Tūwharetoa Mighty River Power Groups to fund a programme of weed eradication and for the weed to be sustainably disposed of in a worm farm. The Tūwharetoa Maori Trust Board is project managing the programme whereby lake weed will be removed from the Waihi and Tokaanu bays in December of this year.
The Aquateq process of lake weed extraction has been successfully implemented in several South Island water bodies. Key features of the Aquateq system are the ability to remove all the plant biomass including rooting system, and the use of a specifically designed netting enclosure which ensures the capture of any floating plant matter. Extraction activities are also integrated with GIS to allow accurate monitoring of results for evaluation purposes. The project will enable a situation in the target zones where within 3 years maintaining near 100% lake weed-free status will only require 6 monthly site inspections with some limited extraction as required.
The weed extracted is being transported to a worm farm to dispose of the waste and to use the Vermicast (or worm poo!) to supply marae maara in the area. If there are opportunities to expand this operation with other waste the worm farm has some scope to expand. This is the first step in a long term management plan of a weed free lake and other parts of the lake must also be targeted, however it is a beginning towards practical steps on implementing our kaitiakitanga on our Lake.
 Aquateq Lake Weed Extraction December 2008 |
 Deposited Lake Weed at Wormfarm with Darryn Turanga |
 Building the Windrows |
