The Manuherekia catchment is the focus of the report where a summary of the documented water quality issues from the past 10 years is included to be presented at a meeting of the Otago Fish & Game Council in Roxburgh tomorrow.
Otago Fish & Game officer Nigel Pacey said he expected the report to generate a lot of public interest.
"It is well documented that many pastoral streams and rivers in Otago have degraded water quality with sediment and nutrient run-off from surrounding agricultural land use a major contributor."
Included in the report was the summary of a decade’s water quality that made for "sobering reading", he said.
"It should alert the Otago Regional Council and the general public to the issues facing the catchment. This reminder is timely considering the Otago Regional Council is currently working through a minimum flow-setting process for the river."
Fish & Game continued to raise the issue of water quality at Manuherekia Reference Group meetings as the organisation saw it as a critical factor that must be included in consideration of water quantity issues.
"Continued failure to address potential effects of different flows on water quality in the catchment may result in poor outcomes from the minimum flow process that do not reflect the community aspirations for a healthier river," Mr Pacey said.
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Fish and game continue to point the finger at farmers when they are nz's greatest environmental vandals. They introduced trout, stoats, rabbits, ferrets. On behalf of the native fish and birds being driven to extinction by your follies, thanks fish n game you're a winner
If you want to sensationalise get your facts right. Fish and Game did none of those things. A simple search and you would not be considered a Trump.
Trout were introduced by those who wanted sport (wealthy merchants and landowners who were all part of Acclimation Societies).
Rabbits were introduced by southern whalers and allowed to breed for meat and sport by settlers and as colonisation proceeded, rabbits were transported and liberated by run holders in several other parts of New Zealand, for sport as well as for meat
A solution was thought of that by introducing natural enemies of the rabbits they would be controlled. There was some concern and in trying to prevent the introduction of ferrets and stoats there was a bill tabled but many members of the council were wealthy runholders at risk of losing serious amounts of money if the rabbit pest could not be controlled.
Southern newspapers applauded the council’s refusal to ban the imports, since they
saw the natural enemies of the rabbit as more significant as defenders of the colony’s
commercial income from wool and crops than as threats. Those are the facts - ...oh yes - for settlers/runholders read Farmers