Spirit of Service Awards 2026 Nomination

Ministry for Primary Industries and the Biosecurity New Zealand response team is also a finalist for Te Tohu Auaha Hou | Innovation Award at the Spirit of Service Awards 2026. As part of the response team, SPS Biota was involved with supporting the defence for this award in Wellington recently. Winners will be announced at the awards event on 1 October.

Te Tohu Auaha Hou | Innovation Award nominees

 

Yellow-legged hornet workshop

SPS Biota recently hosted a start-up workshop for the upcoming 2026–2027 season. Held at our field headquarters, the workshop was attended by BNZ staff, SPS Biota staff and contractors, and DOC representatives.

We also had the opportunity to head outside to establish and check VespaCatch hornet traps, as well as set up some mock feeding stations.

Throughout the day, we heard from SPS Biota and BNZ on a range of topics, including:

- A summary of response activities to date

- Nest tracing techniques

- Apiary monitoring safety

- Trapping procedures

- Insights from the lab

- Nest removal techniques

Overall, it was a fun and informative day, with plenty of opportunities to chat, learn, share knowledge, and get ready for the 2026–2027 season.

- Hannah Morgan

Kiwifruit Vine Health symposium

SPS Biota recently attended the KVH Biosecurity Symposium to give practical demonstrations of some of the tools we use in our fight against invasive organisms. The two most threatening potential invaders to the kiwifruit industry are the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) and the yellow-legged hornet (YLH), both of which we run surveillance programmes for and have leading expertise in. BMSB is a threat because of its ability to breed quickly and its huge appetite for fruit, while YLH is a major predator of the honeybees that pollinate kiwifruit orchards.

We showed off some of the high-tech gear used in the yellow-legged hornet response, from radio trackers to AI detection cameras. Attendees were excited to hear how successful the radio trackers were at finding hornet nests and were enthused to learn the ‘fieldcraft’ behind hornet nest hunting: from finding a single hornet, to documenting its movements to narrow down the search area, attaching the radio tracker, following the hornet back to the nest, destroying the nest, and following up to make sure we were successful.

Below photo by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media.

We also showed off the new BMSB panel traps that successfully detected a single BMSB that had crossed the border into Auckland during their first week of use. KVH is funding extra surveillance for the brown marmorated stink bug because of its high threat level and ability to stow away on containers, so the team was very pleased to see that the surveillance system is working.

Below photo by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media.

KVH held an engaging, thought-provoking conference, and it’s always great to catch up with our colleagues there and others from MPI, BSI, and more.

- Tane Geldard-Lorenz

Tauranga Moana Biosecurity Capital symposium

SPS Biota attended the 2026 TMBC Biosecurity Excellence Symposium, where the theme was 'biosecurity in a rapidly changing world'. We heard from a diverse array of speakers on subjects including:

- emerging biosecurity threats including bird flu

- the effect of climate change on biosecurity

- the role biosecurity in global trade & bioeconomics

- innovations in biosecurity surveillance including UAVs, AI, and genomics

- real-world stories of biosecurity field work and community engagement in the Bay of Plenty

This was a great opportunity for us to learn from and connect with other biosecurity experts, leading scientists, and innovative thinkers who are shaping the future of biosecurity in New Zealand.

- Tane Geldard-Lorenz