Avoid fish after 1080 drop, anglers told

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Freshwater anglers and customary harvesters have been warned not to eat trout or native fish for at least a year because of the risk of 1080 poisoning.

The warning came from the NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers following the Department of Conservation's announcement of an aerial drop of 1080 poison following a beech mast event.

Mast events follow prolific flowering among forest trees, like beech, which leads to a bumper seed fall in the autumn.

It will be the biggest drop of 1080 in the history of this country, says NZFFA.

NZFFA president David Haynes said it was unfortunate that DoC's mass aerial bombardment of thousands of hectares of wilderness public lands failed to take into account mice ingesting 1080 with the high likelihood of massive secondary poisoning of freshwater fish.

NZFFA life member Ken Sims of Palmerston North says rivers in the Whanganui and Taranaki regions and up through the mountains are in the targeted 1080 drop areas.

"The thing that concerns us is that no research has been done on secondary poisoning," he said.

"Mice are four times more resistant to 1080 than rats and stoats. Per body weight they need to ingest a lot more 1080."

In a mice plague, they swim across rivers and are eaten by the trout and eels.

Mr Sims said he had seen a picture of a trout's stomach that contained 15 mice.

"The poison slowly kills over 48 hours and any dying, struggling creature, like a mouse, attracts and is easy prey for a predator be it native falcons or fish like trout or eels," Mr Haynes said.

"There's a chance to see plenty of fish carcasses in rivers and lakes. I urge people not to eat any fish they catch as they may end up seriously ill, due to a sub-lethal dose of 1080, or worse."

DoC deputy director general Kevin O'Connor responded to NZFFA claims, saying, "The environmental impacts of 1080 have been widely researched and the group's claims run completely counter to the accepted scientific evidence".

He said scientific papers showed that 1080 operations posed little risk to either freshwater fish or anglers and the Environmental Protection Authority recently confirmed that water quality remains unaffected by the use of 1080.