A toxic algal bloom affecting parts of the North Island's west coast will have a serious impact on New Zealand's mussel industry, say mussel farmers.
The discovery of the bloom has forced a temporary ban on transporting spat, or baby mussels, from Kaitaia, which supplies up to 85 per cent of the industry's supplies.
The ban has been in place since early last month, and many Marlborough mussel farmers say the 2002 harvest will be significantly reduced, forcing processing factories to close and putting many people out of work.
Southern Mussel Farms general manager Rob Pooley said most of the industry had been waiting for the spat to arrive just before the ban was imposed.
Some had received a very small amount, and others none at all.
Efforts had been made to source spat from other areas but Mussel Industry Council chief executive Paul Lupi said it was impossible for locally sourced spat to supply the entire industry.
Mr Pooley said the toxic bloom was one of the biggest hurdles the industry had ever faced.
The Marlborough mussel industry produces about 55,000 tonnes annually, worth more than $84 million.
Meanwhile, anglers are being warned to dispose of fish guts carefully after two dogs became sick from eating fish and shellfish.
Northland Health's shellfish coordinator, Tony Beauchamp, said yesterday that the two dogs had been reported with symptoms consistent with paralytic shellfish poisoning.
One ate shellfish and the other probably ate fish or fish guts, he said.
The stomach and intestinal contents of fish that fed on shellfish were potentially lethal to humans and pets.
He urged anglers to dispose of the guts of species such as mackerel, snapper and rays so they did not pose a risk to animals and said that dogs should be kept under control on west coast beaches. "Humans and pets should not eat whole small fish from the closed area."
The area closed to shellfish gathering extends from Himatangi, southwest of Palmerston North, to Cape Reinga. The toxic bloom has reappeared at Tinopai in the Kaipara Harbour and the area is being monitored.
Symptoms of poisoning include numbness and tingling, difficulty swallowing or breathing, dizziness, double vision and paralysis.
- NZPA
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from New Zealand
Meet NZ's national mullet-growing champion - and he's only 10-years-old
Ted Keen has just been named the winner of Aotearoa’s Next Top Mullet.