The Paparoa Wildlife Trusts blue duck / whio protection project began early in 2006 when a group of concerned individuals got together to discuss the problem of a rapidly dwindling local whio population and what could be done about it.
Trapping seemed like the most straightforward way for a community group to protect whio in the short term and had been proven to work in other West Coast valleys. First though, it needed to be determined just how many ducks were there?
A cold wintry morning in May saw the group of volunteers eagerly plunge into the river to start searching. At the end of the day the harsh reality of the situation sunk in, only three ducks! One pair and a lone male was all that could be found. And so the project was formed.
Initially the Trust established a blue duck (whio) protection project by implementing predator control in the Moonlight Valley by placing 93 tunnels alongside the track from the carpark to the bushline. This was soon increased to include the lower Moonlight Valley and at the same time as this a trapline was established alongside the Blackball creek on the Croesus track.
On top of this, the Trust obtained a permit from the Department of Conservation (DOC) to implement Operation Nest Egg (ONE) management techniques from 2007 - 2010 to increase their numbers within the Moonlight and Blackball valleys.
The permit allows for nests from two pairs of whio (preferable from rivers not receiving pest control) to be harvested and taken to Peacock Springs in Christchurch for artificial incubation and rearing. The resulting juveniles will be released into Moonlight Creek and later on the Roaring Meg/ Blackball creeks. Using this technique combined with maintenance of predator trapping should soon see a population established once more.
The objectives of this trapping and ONE programme are to re-establish blue duck / whio on rivers of south Paparoa Range to the extent that they are no longer under threat of extinction.
When a healthy whio population is once again established predator control will be maintained to the level that enables whio to successfully breed and raise their young naturally.
The objectives of the trapping programme are to offer protection to this lone trio of blue duck / whio in particular the breeding female who is particularly vulnerable during the nesting period (Aug - Dec).
A very small group of dedicated volunteers from the Blackball and Greymouth community maintains 23 kilometres of trapline on a regular basis. These traplines contain 230 Doc 200 stoat traps in wooden boxes placed at 100m spacings on the Moonlight and Croesus walking tracks. Every month the traps are rebaited (usually with hens eggs) and reset. All catches are recorded onto a spreadsheet.
The Department of Conservation, Greymouth (in support of the PWT'S efforts) is now assisting PWT volunteers in the population surveys and Operation Nest Egg component of the plan. In August 08 the three resident whio in the Moonlight creek were caught to have bands and transmitters attached. This makes it a whole lot easier to find them and to determine when nesting occurs. Once a nest is identified the eggs will be harvested and taken to Peacock Springs for captive rearing. Once whio ducklings have reached fledging age they will be released back into the Moonlight ck. If the eggs are harvested early enough (prior to Novemeber) there is a good chance that the whio will re-nest to produce a 2nd clutch of ducklings.