Didymo Threatens Site of 2008 World Fly Fishing Championships

While the New Zealand Tourism Minister rushes to do damage control, the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board is closing the upper reaches of the Tongariro, the river due to host the 2008 World Fly Fishing Championships. “Dead cells of the algae, commonly known as rocksnot, were found last month in water samples taken from the Tongariro, Whakapapa, Mangatepopo and Whanganui Rivers as part of Genesis Energy’s monthly water quality sampling programme. Biosecurity experts are urgently carrying out more tests for fear that didymo is now in North Island rivers. ”
Meanwhile some North Island guides are hopping mad over what they see as government inaction in preventing the spread of didymo from the South Island, where it was already established. “‘It gets me wild,’ added [Taupo Trout Guides’ Brendon Mathews], who said local guides were picking up customers from Taupo’s airport where the anglers had walked past signs warning them about a potential for the transportation of didymo cells on their wet gear.”
From Stuff.co.nz.