River poison drop ‘tarnishes’ NZ image
A fishing guide says he and wealthy American clients were hit by 1080 pellets on a West Coast river in an episode that tarnished New Zealand’s clean, green reputation.
Co-owner of Murchison’s River Haven Lodge Scott Murray said the incident occurred on December 2 when he and three other fishing parties were on the Mokihinui River, north of Westport.
Murray was with a 91-year-old Californian client and his nephew, and had just been helicoptered into the area when they saw other choppers carrying buckets loaded with green pellets containing 1080.
As they began fishing near the junction of the river’s north and south branches, Murray said pellets started dropping in the water.
‘‘Hundreds, all over the place. Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop everywhere we walked,’’ he said.
He and his clients were forced to cover their heads with their hands as some pellets hit them. ‘‘I was so disgusted and very disheartened. ‘‘[My client] talked about whether it was even worth coming back to NZ. He said he thought this was clean, green NZ. The rest of the world is shocked at the fact we use this bloody crap basically. It makes me quite angry just thinking about it.’’
Murray said he had been notified that a 1080 drop would take place in the Mokihinui catchment, but was also told that the operators would be careful to avoid the waterways.
He said the drops continued throughout the day, and with a strong north-westerly wind blowing, there was no way to control the spread of pellets.
During a break for lunch, he fished out about nine pellets from the river, and saw others in deeper water, but gave up because there were too many.
‘‘All I want to do is get the word out there that people think this 1080 thing is carefully placed and dropping it from the air into the bush. They’re not. New Zealand really needs to wake up, it’s an absolute abomination, it really is.’’
Nelson-based guide Zane Mirfin said he and his party were in the south branch of the Mokihinui on the same day and saw pellets falling in the river and on the riverbank.
He was with a Californian client who was incredulous to learn what was happening.
Mirfin said he believed the massive drops were futile and a waste of taxpayer money.
A spokesman for primary industries organisation Ospri said he had not been able to contact the manager and contractor for the Mokihinui operation, so could not yet provide a response.
An Ospri fact sheet for the Mokihinui drop, designed to help eradicate the spread of bovine TB from possums, said it would cover 46,070 hectares. advanced GPS navigational equipment would be used to ensure the pellets were accurately placed and exclusion zones avoided.
It is not clear what the exclusion zones for the December 2 operation were, but typically drinking water supplies are excluded while other rivers are not.