By ANNE BESTON
Mistakes made fighting a pest moth incursion in West Auckland appear to have created another moth problem in South Auckland.
While biosecurity authorities have been involved in their $90 million aerial attack of the painted apple moth, they have discovered another Australian import, the gum leaf skeletoniser, has spread
throughout South Auckland over the past year.
The skeletoniser (Uraba lugens) attacks eucalyptus trees and was discovered in a Mt Albert park in 2001. It now appears to have spread to Mangere, Otahuhu and the Auckland International Airport area.
Searches for the moth over the past two months have show it is not as localised as MAF had hoped. Sources told the Herald that initial MAF surveying was too localised, meaning the skeletoniser had probably spread over a much wider area.
The ministry has been criticised for a similar mistake over painted apple moth, which began spreading out of control three years after it was first discovered in Glendene.
Similar tactics are being used against the skeletoniser to those used in the early stages of the painted apple moth infestation, ground-spraying with an insecticide. But MAF also has a synthetic sex attractant that is used to trap the moth.
MAF director of forest biosecurity, Peter Thompson, said a meeting next month would decide what needed to be done about the outbreak.
Herald feature: Environment
