First mechanised Caulerpa dredging machine

[Lilith7]

To be used to try to remove the invasive weed, hope it works.


https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advo...ARNH3Q4PI/


"The new mechanical suction dredge is at the centre of a $650,000 trial expected to be a game changer in the fight against caulerpa.
“We’re effectively moving from the equivalent of weeding by hand, to a mechanised approach for removing caulerpa from the sea floor,” Northland Regional Council (NRC) marine biosecurity manager and national marine invasions specialist Dr Kaeden Leonard said.
The Government-funded Omākiwi Cove caulerpa trial is an NRC-led joint project with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) plus Te Rawhiti hapū Ngati Kuta and Patukeha.
If successful, its mechanical harvesting will potentially expand to bigger areas of the Bay of Islands, Aotea/Great Barrier Island and around the world."

[joe 90]

Horizons RC spent Mill$ on weed harvester for Lake Horowhenua to harvest the lake weed thats choking it did a trial run but then t iwi owners put the stop to it & it now stands rusting away .

[Oh_hunnihunni]

The trouble with machine removal is the damage it does to other species...

[joe 90]

The trouble with machine removal is the damage it does to other species...

Lake  horowhenua   has    hardly  any   left  it so toxic

[Lilith7]

The trouble with machine removal is the damage it does to other species...

Lake  horowhenua   has    hardly  any   left  it so toxic

Perhaps at some future point they may be able to fix it somehow.

[nzoomed]

The sooner they get onto it the better, I dont know how fast it spreads in the wild if boats anchors dont touch the stuff, my main concern is how you can find every last speck of the stuff in the bottom of the ocean.
Much harder than getting rid of plants on land, and thats bad enough.

[Lilith7]

The sooner they get onto it the better, I dont know how fast it spreads in the wild if boats anchors dont touch the stuff, my main concern is how you can find every last speck of the stuff in the bottom of the ocean.
Much harder than getting rid of plants on land, and thats bad enough.

I wonder if somehow they could lay some kind of matting over it & sort of smother the damn thing, but I suppose that might not be possible.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Again, you would smother more than the pest plant.

Infestations only occur because a living species finds an environment that it can exploit. The population then expands to fill that niche, and when exponential growth reaches a tipping point the population collapses, another species or community moves in and the process starts all over again. Human beings should be only too aware of this because that is exactly what we do as a species. As far as most other species of living things go we ARE that pest species.

Can we invent a machine to sort that challenge out? Heavens no, we just eradicate other life forms instead.

[Lilith7]

Again, you would smother more than the pest plant.

Infestations only occur because a living species finds an environment that it can exploit. The population then expands to fill that niche, and when exponential growth reaches a tipping point the population collapses, another species or community moves in and the process starts all over again. Human beings should be only too aware of this because that is exactly what we do as a species. As far as most other species of living things go  we ARE that pest species.

Can we invent a machine to sort that challenge out? Heavens no, we just eradicate other life forms instead.

Once the area was cleared though it might be possibe to gradually replace everything which was once there...mind you, we'd probably find a way to stuff it up again.

Perhaps a machine/medical treatment to allow humans to more readily use commonsense...

[nzoomed]

The sooner they get onto it the better, I dont know how fast it spreads in the wild if boats anchors dont touch the stuff, my main concern is how you can find every last speck of the stuff in the bottom of the ocean.
Much harder than getting rid of plants on land, and thats bad enough.

I wonder if somehow they could lay some kind of matting over it & sort of smother the damn thing, but I suppose that might not be possible.

They have been doing that in Queenstown where there is an invasive weed in their lake. I think its working for them, but might be different for this weed.

[Lilith7]

I wonder if somehow they could lay some kind of matting over it & sort of smother the damn thing, but I suppose that might not be possible.

They have been doing that in Queenstown where there is an invasive weed in their lake. I think its working for them, but might be different for this weed.

Yes, I think I heard a bit about that, hope it works for them.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-to...Y3WNIA754/

[Lilith7]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-to...Y3WNIA754/

That's encouraging, just a shame it takes so long but who knows what they might come up with in the future, as we learn more about it.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Gardening is not a fast process...

[Lilith7]

Gardening is not a fast process...

True that, dammit...

[harm_less]

Gardening is not a fast process...

Nature moves at its own pace. It's just a shame that we're able to screw it up so rapidly