GEORGE NEWS - An Eden resident, Dean Chandler, has aired concern at the rate at which Kariba weed (Salvinia molesta) is growing in the Garden Route Dam again.
Chandler's wife, Idonia, alerted the municipality on 28 October that the weed is back. It was growing in a thick layer on the water in the vicinity of the Eden sewerage pump station and was spreading rapidly in the warmer weather.
They appealed to George Municipality to start with control measures before it gets out of hand like the previous time early in 2022 when it spread over a significant area of the dam around the Kat River inlet.
Parks and Recreation manager Nosidima Vumindaba at George Municipality confirmed that a batch of weevils (Cyrtobagous salviniae) had already been released on 24 October on the middle arm of the Swart River, and a second batch of about 500 were released in the Kat River on 3 November.
The weevils eat the Kariba weed, a free-floating invasive fern, and are used as an environmentally friendly alternative to spraying with herbicides.
The municipality previously said that the management of the Kariba weed at the dam is an ongoing process and that it is continuously assessing the options available to control its spread and density.
Weevils were also released to curb flare-up of the weed in December 2021 and again in February 2022 as a follow-up action. The insects are sourced from the Rhodes University's Centre for Biological Control in the Department of Zoology and Entomology.
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