Assault on the sepik.
Contributor(s): Thomas, Phil | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (Australia).
Material type:
BookDescription: Videocassette (VHS) (28 min.) : sd., col. 1/2 in.Subject(s): Salvinia | Weeds -- Biological control -- Papua New Guinea
| Item type | Current location | Home library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matheson Library | Matheson Library | AV PNG | 632 ASS (Browse shelf) | 127 | 041219 |
The Sepik River is one of the largest in Papua New Guinea. It rises in the country's Western Highlands and flows through the heart of the East Sepik Province. On its long journey to the Bismarck Sea, the river winds across a broad flood plain. Hundreds of oxbow lagoons mark its many course changes over thousands of years. The lagoon shores are home to many people who rely on the waterways for communication, transport and food. In one way or another, the entire economy of the region gathering, hunting and fishing is dependent on water. In just a few brief years, something happened to the river. It was a plant, Salvinia. It's not a flowering plant but a water fern which was popular around the world as an aquarium plant. Confined by glass, it's innocuous enough but let it loose and it's the stuff of nightmares. It almost destroyed the fishing, it blocked access to the lagoons, it paralyzed movement and strangled communication. As the human tragedy grew, the Papua New Guinea government approached the United Nations Development Programme to join in a collaborative project to control the weed. A man with previous experience against Salvinia, Phil Thomas, headed the operation.
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