Jersey 'fighting losing battle' with Asian hornets

Deputy Steve Luce said it was "very difficult almost impossible to eradicate" Asian hornets

Jersey's environment minister has admitted tackling the invasive Asian hornet is in some ways "fighting a losing battle".

It comes as Deputy Steve Luce confirmed cuts to the environment department's budget would likely affect Asian hornet control.

Despite a rise in nests found in Jersey, with 656 detected in 2025, Luce said he was committed to look at "new and better ways" to cope with the situation.

Luce said "Asian hornets are here and it's going to be very difficult almost impossible to eradicate them".

John De Carteret, from Asian Hornet Group, said "volunteers who have given hundreds of hours of their time to government, to find Asian hornet nests are rightly concerned that if funding is reduced in anyway these nests may not be treated."

He said the "group feel that it is so important to carry on, if not strengthen the Asian hornet control program."

Mr De Carteret said nests continued to be reported or tracked across the island, with 19 new reports between 26 October and 2 November.

Luce said the island had to look at "new ways and better ways" to deal with the Asian hornets

Luce said: "In some ways it is fighting a losing battle because as hard as we try and the number of people and the huge number of volunteers, the huge number of hours that have gone into finding these nests, the number of nests we find is increasing on an annual basis.

"We've got limited funds and we need to look at the way we use those funds, but I think moving forward we've still got to do enough to keep the situation under control."

He added: "I'm certainly not giving up on Asian hornet work, I will absolutely stress that. But moving forward, we have to accept that it's hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to do this work and we need to look at new ways and better ways trying to cope with the situation".

Responding to a question from Deputy Hilary Jeune in the States Assembly on Tuesday, Luce said 2026 is going to be an extremely challenging year to manage within allocated expenditure for both the regulation and natural environment directorates.

Luce said he was committed to living within budget but said with declining income his options were "very limited".