WWF prize helps wasp-bait business Entecol to scale up for commercial sales

Friday 6th November 2015

Richard Toft, who won a $25,000 World Wide Fund for Nature prize for his wasp-bait system, Vespex, says the cash will help pay for his company Entecol to move to bigger premises in Nelson in preparation for scaling up for commercial sales.

The Department of Conservation says it achieved a reduction in wasp activity of more than 95 percent in a trial of Vespex over 5,000 hectares at five South Island sites last summer. Vespex uses a common insecticide, supplied by German chemical maker BASF, and its intellectual property is the protein-based delivery agent and bait station, which attracts wasps but is of no interest to bees.

Toft, an insect ecologist who trained in wildlife management specialising in invasive invertebrates, says the cash will help cover the costs of a move from its cramped headquarters above an audiology clinic in an old house in Nelson, to a bigger site where he can "upscale the manufacturing of Vespex."

"We want to try to get it more broadly available for the wasp season in New Zealand," which typically starts in mid-January, Toft said. "At this time of year a lot of queens are flying around, finding their own nests - the peak months for wasps are February and March and by about May they are beginning to decline."

About 10 percent of German wasps manage to survive the winter, which gives rise to some of the giant nests found in South Island beech forests. The most common wasp in New Zealand is Vespula Vulgaris, which was a later arrival than the German wasp. Wasps cost the New Zealand economy an estimated $120 million a year through disruption to bee pollination and lost honey production. They also cost the health sector around $1 million a year in sting treatments, Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said yesterday.

“Breeding in vast numbers, wasps monopolise honeydew, which is a key food source for the kaka, tui and bellbird among other native animals,” Barry said. "They pose a threat to native insects and are a continual annoyance, not to mention a health risk, to people visiting the conservation estate.”

Toft says he isn't planning an export business at this stage, given the complexities of pesticide rules in other countries, although it's possible his business would scale up enough over time to contemplate export sales and require more capital. Vespex won't be sold as a "retail" product because a level of stewardship was required given the requirements around handling insecticide. DOC, councils, community and conservation groups and organisations such as Forest & Bird are the likely customers.

The baits have a long life in the field and wasps easily pick up the smell. Once they take it back to their nest, the impact "is remarkably quick," Toft said. Wasps feed the bait to larvae, which regurgitate a "reward" that is eaten by the wasps and their queen. Generally bait stations would only be left in the field for three to eight days.

Toft says he has been trying to limit costs of a commercial launch, restricting the packaging to two sizes and spending some funds on appropriate labelling. He has set up a second company, Merchento, for product marketing.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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