Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Work under way to rid Ahuriri Estuary of tubeworms

Hawkes Bay Today
13 Nov, 2017 09:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Shane Gilmer (left), HBRC water quality and ecology resource technician and senior scientist for coastal quality, Anna Madarasz-Smith. Photo / Supplied

Shane Gilmer (left), HBRC water quality and ecology resource technician and senior scientist for coastal quality, Anna Madarasz-Smith. Photo / Supplied

Work has begun on removing colonies of an invasive marine tubeworm in the Ahuriri Estuary in a joint effort between Mana Ahuriri Trust and Hawke's Bay Regional Council.

An estimated 8.1 tonnes was collected yesterday and about 24 tonnes is expected to be removed by the end of the week.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council senior scientist for coastal quality, Anna Madarasz-Smith said the tubeworm, also known as Ficopomatus enigmaticus had been in the estuary since the early 1990s, but expanded its foothold in recent years.

"Reefs of the tubeworm now restrict water movement between the lower and upper estuary. The worm forms tubes which grow into coral-like structures."

Read more: Invasive marine tubeworm in Ahuriri Estuary to be removed

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There are several areas, which they are planning to tackle.

"We managed to cut 18 metres and probably have about 60 metres left in that one spot," Ms Madarasz-Smith said.

She said they were not aiming to completely eradicate the pest, as that would be "unrealistic".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It is a long-term project and we don't expect to get it all out by the end of the week. It is a maintenance programme."

She said it was important that the removal programme was completed before the dry summer period, so the estuary could benefit from better flushing, and a more natural tidal flow of moving water.

A combination of diggers and manual labor is being used to remove the worm from areas between the Taipo Stream confluence and the Upper Ahuriri Estuary.

A team of four people were used, including a digger, and dump truck, while Ms Madarasz-Smith and water quality and ecology resource technician, Shane Gilmer worked from the water.

They were hoping to have more "people power" in the water in the days to come.

The estuary is home to several species of bird and fish and there are many other initiatives going on which involve the Napier City Council, Department of Conservation and the Hastings District Council.

"It is part of an wider, ongoing project to restore the health and wellbeing of the estuary. A lot of progress has been made and several groups are involved."

Ahuriri Estuary is one of the Council's 6 hot spot environmental clean-up projects funded by ratepayers in this year's HBRC work programme.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Fatally injured man lived long enough to tell police he was 'jumped'

19 May 06:00 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

76-year-old completes Hawke’s Bay Marathon, nears 200th race milestone

19 May 04:31 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

'Mum Talks' help young driver find his way

19 May 03:36 AM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Fatally injured man lived long enough to tell police he was 'jumped'

Fatally injured man lived long enough to tell police he was 'jumped'

19 May 06:00 AM

Two people are on trial for Javon Aranui's murder in Hastings in 2023.

76-year-old completes Hawke’s Bay Marathon, nears 200th race milestone

76-year-old completes Hawke’s Bay Marathon, nears 200th race milestone

19 May 04:31 AM
'Mum Talks' help young driver find his way

'Mum Talks' help young driver find his way

19 May 03:36 AM
Community event raises $53k for Hawke's Bay Rescue Helicopter

Community event raises $53k for Hawke's Bay Rescue Helicopter

19 May 03:13 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP