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Three winners in the NZ Biosecurity Awards are marine biosecurity projects. 'Clean Below? Good to Go' to extends a huge congratulations to the marine biosecurity management agencies getting well deserved recognition for leading the way in the biosecurity disciplines. This is a terrific reflection on the skill and dedication of those staff that are doing the work, in the water.  The winners are: Toi Moana/Bay of Plenty Regional Council Marine biosecurity team won the Eagle Technology Local and Central Government Award. The Bay of Plenty Council Marine Biosecurity team is making a huge contribution to the surveillance and control of invasive marine pests across the upper half of the North Island. The group delivers operational surveillance and control work for other councils and works with iwi to enable them to participate actively in marine biosecurity. Carrying out more than 5,000 person hours of diving each year, this team have been instrumental in detecting and subsequently undertaking Mediterranean fanworm responses on behalf of Biosecurity New Zealand at five locations. Xerra Earth Observation Institute - Starboard - won the coveted New Zealand Biosecurity Supreme Awards for 2021, the GIA Industry Award and the Mondiale VGL Innovation Award for creating Starboard Maritime Intelligence to support operational and research-based marine biosecurity. Vessels arriving from international waters are vectors of exotic pests, disease agents and unwanted organisms. Xerra Earth Observation Institute’s Starboard tool is a maritime intelligence project which is able to detect hitchhiker pests. Starboard can assess the biosecurity risk of every ship or boat entering Aotearoa based on their vessel movements and port visits in the last 12 months, game-changing for marine biosecurity. Starboard is a database of more than 16 billion ship positions worldwide. The team realised that the risk of a vessel bringing unwanted organisms to Aotearoa is strongly related to its past journey track and characteristics of travel. By bringing together scientists, designers, engineers and end-users they are delivering a much-needed solution and improving marine biosecurity for New Zealand. Patrick Cahill of Cawthron Institute won the AsureQuality Emerging Leader Award. Patrick Cahill has led the Biosecurity team at the Cawthron Institute since 2019. His team are recognised internationally for pioneering contributions to biosecurity surveillance, response, and management in the marine environment. Patrick provides leadership ‘from the back’, with a strong strategic mind, attention to detail, and brilliant relationship building abilities. Patrick leads by example, continuing to maintain and grow his own research speciality to develop innovative treatment tools for invasive marine pests. |
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