A new app has been launched to protect New Zealand's primary industries and landscapes from biosecurity pests. Summerfruit NZ is joining other industries in promoting the app as another way for growers to provide information about a possible new pest.
The Find-A-Pest app allows users to report potential biosecurity threats quickly with their smart phone by sending a photo and GPS location. The reports are sent to a community of knowledgeable people from primary industries, iNaturalist NZ (a web-based citizen science platform) and science organisations for identification.
Developers created Find-A-Pest with New Zealand’s primary industries and land managers in mind. Their workforces have boots on the ground, and act as a natural first line of defence.
The app was successfully tested in 2019 by citizen scientists, community groups, forestry employees, kiwifruit orchard workers and regional council employees. Trial results proved Find-A-Pest was a robust method to triage observations of potential threats. Almost 500 observations were made during the case studies, and all identifications from Find-A-Pest and iNaturalist NZ were correct except one. The majority of the observations were identified within an hour.
The app is now available from the Apple App Store or Google Play store for users to start reporting any suspicious insects, plants, plant diseases, or other pests that they see.
Users can easily submit photos, and any additional commentary, straight from their phone. The app will automatically store the date, time, and GPS location of each observation, and you can choose to obscure your location from public view if you wish.
Functionality includes offline use with uploading when back in range of wifi or mobile reception. Factsheets help users learn what pests to look out for, and there are te reo Māori translations of key information. Biosecurity managers can also draw user’s attention to certain topics through customised questions that can be added to relevant fact sheet pages. A general news function and push notification system for biosecurity alerts help users stay up-to-date with general and urgent biosecurity news.
All observations are submitted from the app to the Find-A-Pest database. Low risk threats such as existing pests and weeds are then shared with the iNaturalist NZ community for further identification, while observations of industry sensitive species are kept securely inside Find-A-Pest. Regional councils and primary sector groups have access to the relevant parts of the Find-A-Pest database to inform their biosecurity operations, such as weed control. Potential new to New Zealand threats are shared with Biosecurity New Zealand for investigation.
The app is complementary to Biosecurity New Zealand’s exotic pests and diseases hotline (0800 80 99 66).
Development of ‘Find-A-Pest’ has been supported by New Zealand’s Bio-Heritage National Science Challenge and Envirolink Tools, Biosecurity New Zealand (Ministry for Primary Industries), the Forest Owners Association, Kiwifruit Vine Health (Zespri), Horticulture NZ, Tomatoes NZ, Summerfruit NZ, NZ Apples and Pears, NZ Wine, Onions NZ, Vegetables NZ, with additional support from Te Tira Whakamātaki, and iNaturalist NZ.