• Hawke's Bay Regional Council issues plea for clean hulls

Hawke's Bay Regional Council issues plea for clean hulls

The Hawke's Bay Regional Council has issued a plea for people to keep their boat hulls clean as a way to protect the region's waters from unwanted pests.

HBRC Biosecurity Team Leader Alice McNatty said more boats come through the region's waters in summer to enjoy our marine environment. 

"We want to keep our waters protected and are asking boaties to give us a hand. Some of the worst pests we don’t won’t here are the Mediterranean fanworm and Clubbed tunicate because they form dense colonies, which can make it hard for marine biodiversity to survive.

“They’re often spread on boat hulls, which is why we’re asking people to make sure they’ve got clean hulls.”

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Pest Management Plan has a ‘clean hull’ rule, which means that vessels entering Hawke’s Bay regional waters must have a sufficiently cleaned and antifouled hull so there is no more than a no slime layer and/or goose barnacles.

“We’ve seen people sticking to the clean hull rule which has been great, but the big push is for people returning or coming in from out of the region because they pose the biggest risk.

We do random hull checks throughout the year, helping us to check people are following the rules,” McNatty said.

“Everyone plays their part in marine biosecurity and keeping our waters safe. Preventing pests coming in here is way easier than trying to get rid of them.”

If anyone thinks they have seen one of these creatures on a boat or structure, they can contact Alice McNatty at the Regional Council on 0800 108 838 with details and photos.

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