Six marine biosecurity outreach ambassadors have been busy keeping boat owners informed and updated about marine biosecurity in the Auckland region this summer.

Our country’s aquaculture farmers are leading the way at incorporating marine biosecurity into their day-to-day operations.

The Marine Biosecurity Toolbox Research Programme has won the 2024 New Zealand Biosecurity Awards Science Prize for its groundbreaking work to transform the detection and elimination of invasive marine pests through molecular surveillance technology and analytical platforms.

Cawthron Institute is trialling an innovative new antifouling technology at Nelson Marina

Clean Below? Good to Go and Waikato Regional Council spent a day in Whitianga to talk with boaties about marine pests.

Key harbours in the Top of the North regions have been surveyed by NIWA, as part of a national surveillance program run by Biosecurity New Zealand.

The discovery of 81 Mediterranean fanworm (Sabella spallanzanii) on the sea floor in Pilot Bay was not the early Christmas present that the Bay of Plenty Regional Council dive team were wanting.

A workshop and a webinar will help teaching professionals better utilise our Marine Biosecurity Education Module.

A pop-up stand will be set up at Whitianga wharf on 2 January 2024 where people can get information and ask questions about the Clean Below? Good to Go programme and the Waikato region’s maritime safety rules.

Some information from Biosecurity New Zealand on how you can protect the coastal waters we all love from the invasive seaweed exotic caulerpa

New Zealand has over 1,000 species of seaweed. Here are five that are easy to mistake for exotic caulerpa: 

Divers working for councils in the upper north island are ramping up ready for summer surveillance activities to check the hulls of boats for marine pests. 

Find out how you can maximise your chance of a smooth arrival into a marina that follows the '6 or 1' rule to protect itself, and the places around it, from invasive pests.

The arrival in New Zealand of marine pests like Mediterranean fanworm has highlighted the importance of hull hygiene but it’s equally clear there are challenges involved in keeping a boat clean and well maintained.

There is urgency do everything we can to prevent the introduction and spread of species like exotic caulerpa in our bays and harbours. Here is a guide.

It’s all eyes on the coastline to find and stop the invasion of an ecologically dangerous seaweed. We follow the exotic caulerpa story so far.

A new interactive marine pest map is available on the marine biosecurity portal that can help users to determine what non-indigenous species have been detected at a specific location. 

Exotic species of Caulerpa were first found in Aotea Great Barrier around two years ago. Soon after it was discovered at Ahuahu Great Mercury, and a year after that in the Bay of Islands, followed by Kawau and Waiheke. To narrow down this huge search field, scientists are making use of previous research into vessel movement and anchoring patterns.

At the Hutchwilco Boat Show last month we had a chat with the team at SeaPens. SeaPens, and other floating systems for dry docking your boat, have now emerged as a solution for many hundreds of New Zealand boat owners.  

The Waiheke Marine Project is as ready as it can be for an incursion of Caulerpa on the island’s coastlines.