July 2012

The first combined NPCA / NZ Biosecurity Institute conference - NETS2012 was a success.

Feedback from delegate evaluations of the three-day National Education and Training Seminar (NETS) in Taupo, confirmed high levels of participant satisfaction.

“It was particularly pleasing to see registrations, at a total of 230, up 30% on what had been planned,” says Maurice Kenney NPCA National Co-ordinator.

“It affirms last year’s decision to combine NPCA’s long-running technology transfer conferences with the NETS conferences. The course has now been set for NETS to be the one-stop annual event for practitioners involved with all aspects of vertebrate animal, aquatic and terrestrial plant pest management.”

The expanded vertebrate pest content in the conference programme together with field trips and workshops on new toxins and monitoring, attracted good numbers of vertebrate pest control practitioners.

Planning for the 2013 conference, which will be held in Shantytown on the West Coast, is already underway and includes some improvements to build upon the overall positive experience of the 2012 conference, including more workshops and field trips.