Fish and Game Otago is demanding an urgent meeting with the Otago Regional Council over the fact a South Otago wetland has been drained and converted to farmland.
At a meeting in Cromwell yesterday, the Otago Fish and Game Council resolved not to wait for a council-to-council meeting already scheduled for March next year to discuss regional water management, deciding swift action was required over the destruction of the Lundy Marsh.
"That [date] is too far off - this is an urgent issue that needs to be resolved quickly," Fish and Game Otago chief executive Niall Watson said.
"We need to determine whether the regional water plan provides protection for this wetland. Our position is that it does, so some protection should follow.
"What is also concerning is that this development has arisen after the regional council consulted the landowner about greater protection being applied to the area in the future - and the response was to proceed with rapid drainage.
"If areas are going to come under greater protection, there needs to be some kind of process where some interim protection can be applied to stop this sort of thing.
"I don't doubt there are some complex issues for the regional council to consider, but this issue needs to be resolved quickly."
It wasn't only the regional council that needed to act, Mr Watson said.
"The [Clutha] District Council has a role as well. Its rules say you can't develop areas of native vegetation that are over 2ha without permission. What's been cleared here is undoubtedly over 2ha."
The problem was some people did not see wetlands as important as native bush, he said.
"But they are important, not just as a catchment of water to help with lower summer river flows.
"Removing them has water quality implications for people living downstream."
Wetlands also helped alleviate the possibility of flooding during times of high river flows, he said.
