More than 25,000ha of Otago will require rabbit control through Otago Regional Council-approved control programmes when the new Regional Pest Management Strategy comes into force.
More than 10 years of information on rabbit control in Otago was put to the council's compliance committee this week, highlighting the amount of work needed to meet the new strategy's stringent standards.
These will require landowners and occupiers to comply with a maximum allowable level (MAL) of 3 (an index of rabbit density) by October 2012.
The council was waiting for the Environment Court to endorse the settlement of the last strategy appeal before it could be active.
Resource management director Selva Selvarajah said 2012 was not that far away and a lot of work had to be done to get to MAL3 with more than 25,000ha requiring rabbit control through council-approved programmes.
An increasing amount of land was in breach of the MAL levels, reflecting a consensus that rabbit numbers were on the increase and were at their highest levels since rabbit haemorrhagic virus was introduced in 1997.
Slightly more than 10,600 ha, or 0.4%, of land occupied by rabbits in Otago was found to exceed its MAL, which, apart from 300ha in East Otago and 40ha in North Otago, was all in Central Otago.
Land exceeding MAL in Central Otago had increased from 9200ha last year to 10,660ha this year, with the largest area in breach covering Tarras, Luggate and Lowburn.
There would be a large financial impact on those farmers at MAL4 or MAL5 in lowering numbers to MAL3.
The council would be using workshops, publicity and one-on-one meetings to inform people of the new requirements and the process of approving, monitoring and enforcing control programmes, he said.
It would also be actively promoting secondary controls and poisoning where appropriate.
The committee report showed the rabbit haemorrhagic virus, introduced in 1997, had a higher kill rate where it spread "naturally" than on those properties were it was artificially spread, he said.
Those properties which then continued to actively control rabbits as well were able to keep rabbits at low levels.
Seven steps had been proposed to provide a smooth transition from the previous 2001 strategy to the new 2009 strategy, including developing guidelines on control programmes for farmers and developing plans for effective rabbit control.
Cr Stephen Woodhead said farmers could not be complacent about the issue and could not afford to wait until rabbit numbers breached MAL3 levels before doing something about it.
"It risks the population exploding overnight," he said.
Chief executive Graeme Martin said the council had some of the best data in the world on the virus and the council had this year invested in carrot for poisoning so it was ready if compulsory action was needed.
The report was noted by councillors, who also suggested it be published on the council's website.
