Vector Free Incompetence - Pelorus Sound Residents at Risk
On Friday, 1 October, Vector Free Marlborough made a massive mistake and dumped hundreds of kilograms of insect, bird and animal bait in the water catchment area of Tiraora Bay, Pelorus Sound.
In July 2021, Vector Free operations support manager Phil Spencer had assured local residents in an email that the main water catchment would be excluded from the treatment area. However, last Friday, the helicopter pilots were instructed to ignore this and rain down their baits across the myriad of water courses and springs in the headwaters of the Tiraora Bay river.
This water catchment supplies local residents and dozens of domestic birds, pets and livestock with drinking water. If a similar mistake is made with baits laced with the super- toxin 1080 in two weeks’ time, it will be an ecological catastrophe and residents may die or become seriously ill as a result.
Vector Free owner and spokesman, Barry, was unapologetic on Friday evening, and instead has asked that the local residents apologise to him for spoiling his day, and the end-of-week celebrations of his staff.
Vector Free is operating under contract to the NZ Department of Conservation (DOC). NZ government-owned operations are the predominant users of the Class A super-toxin 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) in the world, using in the order of 90% or more of the global supply. Last year, they experimented with the highly risky process of 1080 manufacture in a Christchurch factory, with tragic results.
Unfortunately, mistakes in aerial 1080 drops are all too common. During previous drops in the Pelorus Sound, residents have been afflicted by poison-laden dust, with severely negative health consequences. The deadly poison has frequently been found on public walking tracks. Elsewhere in NZ, contractors have spilled poison-laced pellets into riverbeds, onto farmland and dumped bags of unused poison pellets in the bush, or in ordinary refuse dumps.
Official comment on the latest mistake is yet to be received from:
� Department of Conservation (which contracted Vector Free, and therefore has ultimate responsibility for the error);
� Nelson-Marlborough Medical Officer of Health (who is required to sign off on aerial 1080 drops);
� Marlborough District Council (which has responsibility for the monitoring the quality of groundwater in Marlborough, including the presence of pesticides);
� NZ Police (who have been made aware of the potentially criminal activity that would take place if poison baits were dropped).
The map below shows the water catchment areas in the Tira Ora Valley. The orange highlighted area indicates where the baits were observed being dropped on 1 October.

Additional comments regarding the advisability and legality of the planned aerial 1080 operation follow below.
Further information can be obtained from a Tiraora Bay resident who witnessed Friday’s operation:
Tony Broad Tira Ora Estate North West Bay Pelorus Sound New Zealand +64 3 579 8117
Aerial 1080 is an Invalid Option for Tennyson Inlet Scenic Reserve - Breaches EPA and MOH Guidelines
Following reviews by the Environmental Protection Authority, government guidelines for aerial 1080 drops were established by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, who explicitly approved and promoted such drops ONLY in large, inaccessible, remote, rugged areas.
Tennyson Inlet Scenic Reserve, on the peninsula between Popoure Reach and Tennyson Inlet in Pelorus Sound does not satisfy these criteria: while somewhat rugged, it is relatively small, easily accessible, and not remote.
In particular, the area above Tiraora Bay satisfies none of these criteria. There are a number of permanent residents at Tira Ora and the other two inlets of North West Bay (Miro Bay and Tamuakawawe Bay, in which there are dozens of holiday homes). Residents and visitors regularly enter and traverse the Scenic Reserve for sightseeing and hunting. The prominent peak is a favourite half-day trek for holidaymakers and guests at the local lodges.

Nevertheless, the DOC Director-General and Chief Executive, Lou Sanson, gave this project the go-ahead before he left the department last month, leaving the acting and incoming CEOs to deal with the fall-out.
As with all poisons, the manufacturer of 1080 specifies certain conditions and requirements that must be followed in using the product. 1080 is not to be dropped into any waterway: it is harmful to insects and aquatic life; it dissolves in water and can be carried far from its entry point. Carcasses of poisoned animals are to removed and either burned or deeply buried where the poison may not leach: the poison can remain dangerous for months and even years (with the result that hundreds of dogs have died in New Zealand from scavenging carcasses). DOC and its contractors studiously ignore both these recommended practices.
The Ministry of Health has issued guidelines to district Medical Officers of Health for use in setting conditions when issuing permits for the use of vertebrate toxic agents (VTAs), of which 1080 is one. The guidelines state that “1080 is the only VTA that can be aerially applied as it is used for possum control in remote areas where ground application would be difficult or impossible.” On this basis also, the Tennyson Inlet operation fails to meet the government’s own guidelines.
Thus DOC routinely breaches the guidelines for using this toxin.
Unfortunately, in 2017, the government gave itself (i.e., DOC) an exemption from needing resource consents for the aerial broadcasting of 1080, so that local authorities (e.g., the Marlborough District Council) are unable to assess and regulate this high-risk activity in their regions by way of the consent process. However one would expect that Council environmental officers would still be concerned about and have some ability to monitor and control the distribution of lethal toxins in the region, by virtue of their general moral obligation to, as far as they are able, safeguard their ratepayers.
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