WELLINGTON, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government has allocated 5 million NZ dollars (3.1 million U.S. dollars) to accelerate the development of removal techniques to contain the fast-spreading exotic caulerpa seaweed, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard said on Friday.

"New Zealanders value the marine environment highly and we need to keep up this fight as we continue to search for ways to get rid of this invasive pest," Hoggard said.

The extra fund is an investment in technology to contain caulerpa and then eliminate it where possible from those affected areas, he said.

"This funding increase will enable further development of suction dredge technology, which I recently visited in Northland," the minister said.

"This is a challenging situation," Hoggard said, adding that no other country has been able to adequately control or eradicate such a large infestation of exotic caulerpa. Enditem

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