Quote Originally Posted by Mike Thomas View Post
Thanks for the links gzacckey I should have thought about including them in the first post. To give the biosecurity guys a bit of credit, there leaflets and information campaigns have been quite good, but again they are only targeted at anglers. Most 4wd, tramping, kayaking and rafting clubs and organizations seem to hardly be aware of didymo let alone how to stop it spreading. Even warning signs at the ferry terminal were only put up after pressure from anglers.
As a little asside the Government is currently looking at another massive irrigation system in Canterbury that will take alomst all the water from a number of streams, some infected and some not, to store in a lake and then spread over vast areas of land, most of which drains into rivers that are not affected by didymo.
Faced with stupidity on this kind of level banning felt soled boots seems to be a total waste of time.
Anyway, anyone coming to NZ for a fish after October should make sure they bring rubber soled boots, the fishing at the moment is a wash out but once we get a few days with no rain the central North Island will be the place to be.
All the best.
Mike.
I think these guys may have worked fo Washington State's Dept. of Fish & Wildlife and/or other WA state goverment dept. before working for NZ. A similar mind set when faced with problems regarding rivers and fish.