Wasp Wipeout 2019/2020

Wasp Wipeout is a community-led conservation project aimed at significantly reducing German and common wasp populations in the worst affected areas of New Zealand this summer.

Alongside our partners (Stuff, the Department of Conservation (DOC), and Conservation Volunteers NZ), The Tasman Environmental Trust helps mobilise the community to donate and volunteer towards significantly reducing invasive wasp populations throughout New Zealand including Canterbury and the West Coast, Nelson, Tasman and the Marlborough Sounds and this summer extending into Central Otago, Wellington/Kapiti and Auckland.

All donations go to the Tasman Environment Trust, which will distribute the funds to purchase bait and bait stations to continue and expand wasp control operations.

Background:

Wasp Wipeout began as a pilot project in the Nelson region in 2016, supported by the Nelson Mail and Stuff as well as the Department of Conservation, local conservation groups, businesses scientists and members of the community. Since then the programme has expanded to include parts of Canterbury, West Coast and the Marlborough Sounds which have high infestations of wasps.

You can read more here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/wasp-wipeout

The Common and German Wasp:

Wasps are New Zealand’s ultimate villain towards humans and nature alike. The species we’re focusing on (German and common) were introduced. They wreak havoc on our environment, killing native birds, young bats, insects, lizards and honey bees. Wasps also feed off honeydew, a valuable food source for native fauna and honey bees. They cost the NZ economy more than $130 million a year.

They also attack, injure, and have been known to kill humans. The biomass (total weight of wasps in Nelson and Tasman) exceeds all other pests in New Zealand, including possums, stoats and rats. There are a million hectares of beech forest in the South Island and over 5, and up to 40, wasp nests per hectare.