DIDYMO NOOOOOO!!!!!

[geoff_fishie]

well the bad news has arrived, there have been dead didymo cells found in central plateau rivers in the north island. there will almost certainly be live ones in that case, and this makes me bloody sad. im extremely sorry to anyone who makes a living from troutfishing or anyone who regularly enjoys the sport in general, as it is likely that because of this fact that lifestyle may soon deminish.

[catch N release]

Yeah thanks for that GF. Hopefully it isn't all doom and gloom, the Whanganui, and other two rivers have come back as clear. this only leaves the Tongariro and again the test only came back as dead cells present. They have NO idea why this is and are looking at the test itself to see if cross contamination has occurred while testing. Whatever the out come it has been a GOOD shake up for the region and all North Island fresh water fisherman alike.

[geoff_fishie]

good shake up alright. i have to give credit to the fishos for even preventing it from the north island for this long.

[bradley]

If there are dead didymo cells will there have to be live cells also?
Will this ruin the fisheries???
Its awful news!!!!!

[catch N release]

Hey Bradley,
these are good questions you have asked. I am lucky enough to have a friend on the inside and so get a little information faster than most. The big worry, and this is why DOC  and the emergency Didymo response team are still on full alert, is that a LIVE didymo patch is somewhere out there. The cross contamination theory is becoming a little thin on evidence now and so that only leaves how did the Dead cells get there! The test results are confusing and so a heavy testing, high maintenance control programme will be in place until it is sorted. If you are fishing the Taupo rivers be prepared for DOC spraying you down. If you are fishing a river anywhere else in the North island take it into your own hands to CLEAN ALL FISHING GEAR AND CLOTHING THAT COMES IN CONTACT WITH THE WATER.

[bradley]

Hi catch N release thanks for telling me this. I fish the manawatu river by Dannevirke which is in the Wellington region and am worried if didymo is established here in taupo, it will have to eventually get in the manawatu won't it? Also can you buy spray that is already mixed up and you can use straight away, without making a homebrew yourself because it sounds confusing making a homebrew spray.

[budge]

Thankfully this was a 'scare' only.  Whose playing around with dead didymo cells in our labs up here anyway?  If this has highlighted anything it is Doc/Govt & Maf and our representives in government (here I go again...) need to be doing more to protect the Taupo fishery/Eastern Game area.  We need to quarentine trout fishing gear at Cook Straight and AKL/Rotorua/Taupo Airport.  You should see what they do to Golf gear in Australia, Thailand, UK etc. 
We need more jelly beans....where did that come from?  Did anyone find it odd that just before this broke they were handing out Jellybeans in Turangi to remind anglers to clean there gear.  Cleaning Stations at car parks.  Good a place to check licenses as well.  This is all a bit random but to hard to get all ideas down.  I'm not confident the powers that be have any real grasp of how dangerous this is.  I realy hope I'm wrong but if we get it in Taupo I can see it spreading horribly while we stuff around then in desparation they'll try and fix it and only suceed in destroying everything.