Nakdonggang River Basin Environmental Office Launches Intensive Nutria Eradication Effort

Operation of Eradication Task Force and Regional Purchase System

The Nakdong River Basin Environmental Office announced on the 19th that it will operate a dedicated eradication team and a wide-area purchase system to reduce the population of the invasive species nutria living mainly in the Nakdong River system.

Since 2014, it has established a cooperative system with related local governments and achieved the eradication of approximately 38,000 nutria individuals.

Since 2018, a decrease in the nutria population has been observed.

Captured nutria. [Image provided by Nakdong River Basin Environmental Office]

The Nakdong River Office is implementing a wide-area purchase system along with the operation of a dedicated eradication team to enhance the effectiveness of nutria eradication.

Dedicated eradication teams are intensively deployed in 10 cities and counties in the Busan and Gyeongnam areas where nutria habitats have been confirmed, capturing them using traps.

Anyone who captures nutria can submit the captured individuals (carcasses) to nutria reception centers or the local governments in charge of the capture areas and receive 20,000 KRW per individual through the year-round wide-area purchase system.

Chief Choi Jong-won stated, “We will continue to make sustained efforts in cooperation with related agencies to prevent the spread of nutria inhabiting the Nakdong River basin.”