Largest 1080 predator control well under way

Southland is in the midst of its largest predator control programme in response to the mega mast that took place last summer.

This year about 120,790 hectares of 1080 aerial operations have been completed in Fiordland and Southland.

Another drop was planned for 40,000ha at Wet Jacket Peninsula, Fiordland, in March next year.

The Department of Conservation’s southern South Island operations director, Aaron Fleming, said the department was undertaking its largest ever predator control programme, Tiakina Nga¯ Manu, in response to the mega mast.

Forest seeding provided a large amount of food for native species but also fuelled rodent and stoat plagues that posed a threat to native birds and other wildlife, Fleming said.

The completed 1080 drops in Southland this year equated to 3.52 per cent of the region’s total area mass of 3.4 million hectares.

Monitoring the amount of pests at aerial sites was under way and results would be available in the coming weeks, he said.

Ground trapping operations by department staff totalling 57,881ha would also be completed in Stewart Island and in areas of Fiordland next year.

A report by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) showed that Southland was New Zealand’s third largest region for 1080 coverage in 2018.

According to the report, Southland had 46,423ha of aerial 1080 dropped in 2018.

The West Coast had the largest concentration of 1080 aerial drops last year, with 190,577ha covered, while Canterbury had the second highest, with 56,014ha covered.

The only operation in Southland in 2018 was at Eyre Mountains, 20 kilometres south of Lumsden. Operations at Eyre

Mountains had reduced the possum density to fewer than two possums caught for every hundred nights a trap was set – as measured by the residual catch trap index, Fleming said.

The EPA report showed there were eight reports of domestic animal deaths nationally, none of which were during the Otago or Southland operations.

The Otago region had the report’s only non-compliance in regards to the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act, for failing to clear part of the track at Timaru Creek.

It was the lowest number of breaches since non-compliance reporting began in 2007.

Operations at Eyre Mountains had reduced the possum density to fewer than two possums caught for every hundred nights a trap was set.