Hurdles in the war on pests
Q. With the Government’s target of being predator-free by 2050, what can science contribute to the fight?
A. Biological Heritage National Science Challenge director Dr Andrea Byrom says there can be no question that New Zealand will need new tools in the toolkit if they want to achieve the 2050 target.
‘‘For example, we will need to re-consider biological control, which is a catch-all term for approaches like causing infertility in mammals or using a virus to reduce a population to very low levels. There are also promising new methods such as ‘gene drives’ that are being discussed, which are a new method of breeding an all-male line into a pest population until eventually it declines to extinction with no females to breed with.
‘‘This all sounds futuristic and scary, but the reality is that there are many technological hurdles to
"Promising new methods such as 'gene drives' are being discussed...'' Dr Andrea Byrom
overcome in the world’s laboratories before we can apply these technologies in a field situation many years down the track, and when we do take them to the field, we could trial them on a remote island first, which would guard against any risk of an unwanted organism escaping.
‘‘I would prefer that we take a step back and consider the wider picture, and in my mind there are issues other than a technological ‘fix’ that are equally important. For example: will we need to alter legislation to allow the release of a virus or new organism into the environment? How should we make use of existing tools in the toolkit, as well as developing new ones?
‘‘Should we begin with peninsulas or islands, and how should we ‘roll out’ predator-free status across the North and South islands? How will we respond to public concerns about new technologies? How will other pests respond when rats, stoats and possums are removed? And how can we incentivise the level of investment required to make PFNZ a reality?
‘‘All these questions point to the need for a ‘whole system’ approach: thinking about all the pieces of a gigantic jigsaw puzzle together rather than one piece at a time. But it will be worth it.’’
Comments gathered by Science Media Centre New Zealand.