1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,400
Speaker 1: Now there's a weird thing that's happening at the Western

2
00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,600
Speaker 1: Springs Lake in Auckland this week. Scientists are using electrical

3
00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,520
Speaker 1: currents to stun gold fish and turtles in order to

4
00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,520
Speaker 1: kill them because they've become harmful pests to native fish

5
00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,200
Speaker 1: and yields. Auckland Councils Senior Freshwater Ecologist Matthew Bloxham is

6
00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:19,360
Speaker 1: with us on this high math You hi, how are

7
00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:21,560
Speaker 1: you doing there? Yeah, I'm very well. Think you explain

8
00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:23,680
Speaker 1: to me how this works. You put the current in,

9
00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,000
Speaker 1: you stun the fish and then they kind of float

10
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:27,400
Speaker 1: around and you scoop them up and kill them.

11
00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:32,440
Speaker 2: Well, that's exactly right. Yeah, the boat acts as as

12
00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:39,440
Speaker 2: a well, the boat produces charged through some a wand

13
00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,720
Speaker 2: that sort of hangs out beyond the bow and the

14
00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:51,000
Speaker 2: fish are stunned. Basically, they muscles contract and involuntarily and

15
00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:53,319
Speaker 2: the fish come to the surface where they're scooped up

16
00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:58,960
Speaker 2: and gathered and euthanized and then sent off to be biodigested.

17
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:00,960
Speaker 1: What what biodigestive?

18
00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,520
Speaker 2: Well, the great thing about these fish, we've caught about

19
00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,240
Speaker 2: just on five hundred kg so far this week, and

20
00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:15,280
Speaker 2: the fish are being sent off to these great digesters

21
00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:20,759
Speaker 2: to be turned into biomethane, and they're used in currently,

22
00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:25,120
Speaker 2: I believe, in glasshouses to heat the glasshouses. So it's

23
00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:26,479
Speaker 2: quite quite a nice result.

24
00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:29,759
Speaker 1: You'll be dumping them in. These are the same trucks

25
00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:31,560
Speaker 1: that are taking the little green bins down to some

26
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:33,199
Speaker 1: place down the road.

27
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,280
Speaker 2: Right, that's correct, that's correct.

28
00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,600
Speaker 1: It's going on here the goldfish and the turtles and

29
00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,400
Speaker 1: the things that shouldn't be in our waterways. Is this

30
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:43,840
Speaker 1: historical dumping or is it recent dumping?

31
00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,360
Speaker 2: Well, it could be both. You know, there is a

32
00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,840
Speaker 2: sort of a culture of spread New Zealand where fish

33
00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,480
Speaker 2: are being moved around for various reasons. You know, some

34
00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,200
Speaker 2: of the fish have obviously been here for quite a

35
00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,680
Speaker 2: long time, and we've caught some really large fish this week.

36
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:04,560
Speaker 2: Had one coy cart that was fourteen cage's which is

37
00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,160
Speaker 2: one cag off the largest court, so that'll be quite

38
00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,360
Speaker 2: a long lived or a fish that's been here for

39
00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:17,440
Speaker 2: quite a long time. Turtles really long lived. But yeah,

40
00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:19,400
Speaker 2: so they could have been placed here recently. I think

41
00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,320
Speaker 2: it's sort of something unfortunately that goes on when people

42
00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,080
Speaker 2: who are given or that take on these pets. They

43
00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:29,359
Speaker 2: don't realize it's an all of life thing and it's

44
00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,119
Speaker 2: sick of them or it becomes inconvenient. So they look

45
00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,639
Speaker 2: on Western Springs is a great place to put them.

46
00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:39,840
Speaker 2: But unfortunately the opposite is true. These things become enormous

47
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 2: and they're incredibly for cunned animals. They're breeding machines and

48
00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:49,040
Speaker 2: the way they we call them habitat modifiers, the way

49
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,720
Speaker 2: they actually feed. They resuspend all the silks and all

50
00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,120
Speaker 2: the nutrients and they take new trient that's tied up

51
00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:59,200
Speaker 2: in plant material and turn it into a bioavailable form.

52
00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,800
Speaker 2: So before you know, now that you have our good

53
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,120
Speaker 2: blames and all sorts of things. And so what we're

54
00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,040
Speaker 2: trying to do at Western Springs is, you know, give

55
00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,560
Speaker 2: the natives a chance, try and bring back the native

56
00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,320
Speaker 2: fish species, give the years a chance, and you know,

57
00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,760
Speaker 2: just try and improve the overall quality of this wonderful place.

58
00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:18,560
Speaker 1: Good luck with it, Matthew, thanks for talking us through it.

59
00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:22,280
Speaker 1: Appreciate is Matthew Bloxham, Auckland Council Senior Freshwater Ecologists.

60
00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:26,239
Speaker 2: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

61
00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:26,880
Speaker 2: news talks.

62
00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,080
Speaker 1: It'd be from four pm weekdays or follow the podcast

63
00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:31,160
Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio,