New myrtle rust finds in Tasman

Four new cases of myrtle rust have been found in Golden Bay.

The new sites were discovered in the last week, bringing the total number of finds up from nine on June 13 to 13 on June 20.

Only one of those sites was on public land, in Parapara. One other site was a commercial property in Pohara. The remaining infected sites, 11 in total, were on private property in Collingwood, Pohara, Parapara, and Patons Rock.

Tasman District Council biosecurity and biodiversity team leader Paul Sheldon said things were moving ‘‘fairly quickly’’ in Golden Bay. ‘‘Ministry of Primary Industries staff are there again this week doing survey work.’’

In the week from June 6 to 13, MPI found three new sites in Golden Bay.

‘‘With that rate of find, MPI are planning to return to [the area] to try and establish if what has been found to date comprises of small outlier infection or is part of a bigger infection,’’ Sheldon said.

He said MPI was still treating Golden Bay as an outlier, removing any affected plants, and adjoining plants as well if they were deemed to be a risk.

‘‘I believe in the more heavily infested parts of the North Island, they are no longer doing plant removal, and if there are further finds in the top of the south, they may stop responding here also.’’

Myrtle rust affects plants in the myrtle family, which includes pohutukawa, manuka, rata, kanuka, swamp maire and ramarama, as well as commercially-grown species such as eucalyptus, feijoa and New Zealand cranberry.

The spores are thought to have crossed the Tasman Sea on wind currents. The latest number of infected sites across New Zealand is 731.