Port Nelson squirt to be checked

NEW ZEALAND - Port Nelson may have an infestation of an invasive sea squirt which has been found at Port Tarakohe and is threatening marine farms in the top of the South Island.

New Zealand Marine Farming Association chief executive Graeme Coates said it was proving difficult to identify whether a sea squirt found at Port Nelson was the troublesome Didemnum vexillum.

He believed the sea squirt was well established at the port. Cawthron Institute biosecurity expert Ashley Coutts said the sea squirt looked like Didemnum vexillum and he thought it was that species, but he could not be certain.

"I'm 99 percent sure but there's a little element of doubt." Mr Coutts planned to send a sample to a United States expert on sea squirts and said it could be another month before he got a result.

Source: Stuff.co.nz