Y12 Mana Maori class has been establishing a trap line out on the Hinemaia Stream in the Kaimanawa. This consists of 30 DOC 200 traps laid out 100m apart, 24 on a track beside the river, and 6 off track beside the river. The purpose of these traps is to protect the Whio that breed along this section of river... we see good numbers of Whio when we go.

The traps need to be cleared, reset, and baited every three weeks or so. 

My senior classes have cleared traps and it's pretty good fun. It takes a whole day really (6km walk) and it is pretty worthwhile. 

Within one week we caught an average of 12 rats out of 20 traps that were set. The gestation for a ship rat is 23 days with a litter of 8-18.

Female pups reach breeding age at 8 weeks. So they can breed 11 weeks after being conceived. So a female pup conceived on the first of January can breed at the end of March and would be able to have 5 litters in the remainder of the year. Hence it's pretty important mahi for our whenua.