NZ officials await tests after rat poison spill
Date: 24-May-01
Country: NEW ZEALAND
Local media quoted reports of dead fish and eels washing up along the coastline, which is a popular tourist spot known as a feeding ground for whales and dolphins.
"We are not certain to what extent seals will be affected, but in general large animals of their size would have to eat a lot for it to cause significant harm," the Department of Conservation said in a statement.
"Seabirds are more at risk. It might be possible to reduce the risk by removing any dead fish that are seen."
The waters off the Kaikoura coast had turned bright green after a truck and trailer overturned on a narrow coastal highway around 200 km (125 miles) north of Christchurch yesterday.
"This morning there is nothing, I'm told, that's obvious in terms of colour in the water," Bob Simpson of the local government environment agency, Environment Canterbury, told Radio New Zealand.
Local media reported that the rat poison belonged to the Department of Conservation and was to be used to eradicate rats on the remote Campbell Island, 700 km (440 miles) south of New Zealand's main islands.
