Experts from the Hawkes Bay saltmarsh eradication programme will be brought into the Kaipara and Mangawhai regions to contain and control the disease-bearing insect.
The exotic mosquito, which carries the Ross River virus, was first found in the Hawkes Bay but the largest colony is in the Kaipara.
The Ministry of Health
has contracted NZ Biosecure, whose staff have worked in the Hawkes Bay and East Coast, to run the Kaipara and Mangawhai operations.
The contract is part of a $6 million, four-year plan to eradicate the mosquito in Napier, Gisborne, Mahia and Porongahau, and control its spread in Kaipara and Mangawhai.
Aerial mapping has established that the potential habitat in the Kaipara is 2710ha. A detailed ground survey will be carried out to allow a targeted programme.
Dr Bob Boyd, the Ministry of Health's chief technical officer for biosecurity, said it was highly likely some aerial spraying would be recommended but this would not be near any housing areas. Community meetings would allow residents to have input into the programme.
Eradication was still considered an option in the Kaipara and Mangawhai regions but the ministry needed to find out first how the mosquito was getting into these areas and to review surveillance requirements.
