Harmful species
– animal, plant and marine – pose a major threat to our region, both
ecologically and economically.
The Southland
Regional Pest Management Plan and Biosecurity Strategy have been in place since
2019.
The Strategy
outlines how Environment Southland will oversee the management of biosecurity until
2024, including key objectives and how these may be achieved. It’s our vision
for biosecurity into the future and, together with the Southland Regional Pest Management
Plan and the Fiordland Marine Regional Pathways Management Plan, tells
Environment Southland’s biosecurity story.
The Regional
Pest Management Plan includes the rules that everyone must follow to reduce the
harm caused by pests. The plan covers pest plants, pest animals and marine
pests. You can find out more details about the rules and each species at the
Southland
pest hub.
Developing the plan was a long process, involving many different levels of consultation with a
variety of groups and individuals over several years. The proposal was released
for public consultation, along with a draft Biosecurity Strategy, in August
2018 and received over 100 written submissions, with more than 20 submissions
presented in person to the hearing panel. The hearing panel read all the
written submissions and listened to the views of those who submitted in person
during the hearing process. All of these were carefully considered while
developing the final recommendations for the council.
The Council
accepted the decision on 22 May 2019 and agreed to notify the final plan on 14
June 2019. The plan was subject to appeals until 5 July 2019. By this date, no
appeals had been received, so the plan has become operative.
We are extremely
grateful for all the effort the community has put into being part of this
process. Building the most effective Pest Management Plan for Southland
requires community input and consideration of a wide range of views. The
submissions process is an important part of that and the feedback from
everybody has helped us create an effective plan to support Southland’s
biosecurity requirements for the next 10 years.
