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Salmon deaths info covered up by industry diseased MPI

In 2012, the Kenepuru & Central Sounds Residents Association Inc. (KCSRA) a “watchdog for residents and property owners” in the Marlborough Sounds became concerned about the unusual deaths of salmon at the Waihinau Bay farm.

They lodged an Official Information Act with the MPI, requesting more information about the deaths.

But, MPI withheld important information, about the extent and seriousness of fatalities at King Salmon farms in the Sounds.

The information was withheld to protect the NZ King Salmon Company’s commercial position, avoid prejudicing the entrusting of similar information to the Government in the future, and avoid prejudicing

SEE INSIDE Page 5 -

Crayfish situation critical

Page 8 -

Shocking state of Coromandel Boat Ramps

Page 10- Observer Programme far from satisfactory Page 11 - Fishing Federation against MPI having camera footage Page 15 - SHOT Urges Hunters to ‘Quiz and Vote’ Page 19- Trout fishing on Mars

New Zealand’s economic interests.

This is an absurd argument and wholly irresponsible. It’s in the public interest for example, to know whether an infectious virus has been detected.

Claiming release of such information would prevent similar information being supplied in the future is utter nonsense. When it comes to infectious disease, the public interest must always override commercial sensitivities.

But the king salmon case is worse, much worse. The backdrop is that in 2012 the normal planning processes of the Resource Management Act were being trampled on. NZ King Salmon had applied for 9 new salmon farm sites in the Marlborough Sounds. The government had ‘called in’ the application. It was too important nationally to leave to the local council. The application was on the fast track to being determined by a Board of Inquiry appointed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Board of Inquiry final report notes that while ’a large number of submitters made representations and gave lay evidence as to their observations and fears with respect to disease and the impact on wild fish, the scientific evidence was fairly consistent and much more positive. We heard evidence from three experts: Dr Ben Diggles, a scientist specialising in parasitology of fish, Dr Barrie Forrest, a marine ecologist specialising in biosecurity, and Dr Krkosek, a marine ecologist with expertise in population dynamics and epidemiology. In addition Mr Alistair Brown, an aquatic veterinarian, addressed the issue of salmon health’.

These experts were persuasive. They told the Board that ‘New Zealand is in an enviable position in that most of the pathogens known to cause problems for salmon farms overseas

are not known to occur here. Very few infectious diseases have caused production losses and active surveillance has been undertaken for decades’. Furthermore, the experts were agreed that existing disease agents were unlikely to become a problem, at an individual farm level, given the current stocking densities.

These were brave statements. As they were writing their evidence, the salmon at the NZ King Salmon farm at Waihinau Bay were dying and the MPI knew about it. Let’s have another quote from the Board of Inquiry Report.

‘Addressing the mortality spike at the Waihinau farm in March 2012 Mr Brown estimated the loss at about 25%. The fish exhibited skin lesions, lethargy and loss of appetite. Laboratory analysis found no evidence of a bacterial or viral agent and Mr Brown concluded the most likely cause was a water-borne irritant such as algae passing through the farm on the tide’. During cross-examination he explained that the transient nature of algal blooms made it difficult to precisely identify the cause.

The Board of Inquiry found that ‘King Salmon have been operating salmon farms in the Sounds for many years with no known disease outbreaks…

While the proposed farms increase the level of risk in terms of disease and biosecurity simply because of the increased density of salmon at a regional scale there are no “new” disease risks’.

The Board of Inquiry hearing began on August 27 2012. But, where were the biosecurity experts from MPI? They knew about the health status of the Marlborough Sounds salmon better than anyone else – they had been on the track of a disease outbreak for months. MPI were silent

and preferred to remain that way.

The public cannot know the truth.

It took a complaint to the Ombudsman by the Kenepuru & Central Sounds Residents Association to get an interim report on the disease investigation released. They got it on August 16 2012, but with several key pages redacted. Submissions to the Board of Inquiry had already closed. And the interim report simply noted that results for Infectious Salmon Anaemia Virus were awaited from an international reference laboratory in Norway.

Infectious salmon anaemia is a very, very serious and internationally notifiable disease of salmon. It is a major threat to the viability of salmon farming, having wiped out entire farms in Canada and Chile.

The virus can be transmitted through contact with infected fish, their secretions, by farm equipment, or people who have handled infected fish. Combating it requires the total eradication of salmon stock if an outbreak is confirmed. Thus, the economic and social consequences are very far reaching.

This newspaper understands that the Canadian reference laboratory, Atlantic Veterinary College, had already returned a positive result for this virus from one or more of the diseased salmon. It was this information that was redacted from the 2012 interim report.

Yet, the MPI mitigated the potential fallout on salmon exports by reassuring its foreign counterparts in trading nations, such as Australia, Canada and the United States that “competent interim measures were in place”.

This was hidden from the Kenepuru & Central Sounds Residents Association and the New Zealand Public.

This newspaper will be requesting from the MPI copies of all information, concerning king salmon deaths; it gave to its counterparts in foreign nations.

In his decision, the Ombudsman stated that ‘disclosure of the information about the testing in Canada would have enabled the residents association to question the King Salmon’s consultant on marine biosecurity and disease issues, Dr Diggles, more effectively on his evidence. It would also have contributed to the quality of public debate on a matter of public interest’. Clearly the Ombudsman thought that the MPI should have released the 2012 interim report (or nearly all of it anyway) in time for the Board of Inquiry hearing.

The Ombudsman considered that there is a significant public interest in the public knowing the full picture of how the MPI carried out its regulatory functions in the area of food safety and disease control. The public, as the ultimate consumers of food products, has a legitimate interest in knowing about the testing

in the Canadian laboratory commissioned by the MPI, why the MPI had doubts about the test results, and what it did to put those doubts to rest.

Nearly five years after the Board of Inquiry hearing we have access to two more MPI reports. You can read them both here https://www.mpi. govt.nz/protection-and-response/ responding/salmon-response/.

We now know much of what MPI knew before the Board of Inquiry began. The MPI biosecurity staff were worried at the time about the lax biosecurity practices at NZ King Salmon. They also knew that some of the expert evidence was wrong.

But MPI said nothing to the Board of Inquiry about any of this. MPI’s final report on the 2012 disease outbreak was not completed until July 2013, five months after the Board of Inquiry released its final report and decision.

And we also have the benefit of hindsight. The dying fish didn’t have infectious salmon anaemia. If a Canadian lab really did detect this virus it was a false positive. The fish were infected with several bacteria never before seen in NZ. In the summer of 2015 about 2/3rds of the salmon present at the Waihinau Bay farm died. These bacteria had been missed by the testing back in 2012, but with better

testing the MPI was now able to detect them in samples archived from 2012. So while the Board of Inquiry were smugly concluding that ‘King Salmon have been operating salmon farms in the Sounds for many years with no known disease outbreaks’ the Marlborough Sounds salmon were actually in the early stages of one.

We don’t yet know whether MPI also launched a compliance investigation to discover whether there had been any deliberate breaches of the Biosecurity Act. But these bacteria came from somewhere.

The Board of Inquiry process was only going to have one outcome regardless. Proposals are only called in like this when the government can see dollar signs, and the odds are deliberately stacked against local communities, environmental NGOs and objectors in ‘the national interest’. But it doesn’t help when Government Ministries are also hiding critical information and lying by omission on spurious grounds.

As the Ombudsman ruled the public of New Zealand had a right of access to this information. When an issue this serious is deliberately covered up by MPI, the public’s lack of confidence and trust in the industry diseased Ministry for Primary Industries is fully warranted.

Set Net to catch your whitebait BBQ to cook the catch

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Fishing and Outdoors PO Box 10580, Te Rapa, Hamilton 3240 Ph 07 8551833 Editor Graham Carter mail@fishingoutdoors.co.nz 021 02600437

Book review

Advertising Sales Tracy Fairey Bay of Plenty 027 884 7156 Graphics: Astro Creative Photography: Sandi Tuan Regular Writers: Graham Carter James Speedy Ben Hope Frank Henry Dick Featherstone Tony Orman Rhys Smith John McNab Fishing and Outdoors is published

by Ashwood Grove Ltd. All editorial copy and photographs are subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions or comments expressed within this publication are not necessarily those of the contributors, editor, staff and management or directors of Ashwood Grove Ltd. ISSN 1179-5034 Unsolicitored editorial, letters, photographs will only be returned if you include a stamped, self addressed envelope. www.fishingoutdoors.org Visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/Fishingoutdoors Copyright © 2011 Fishing Outdoors Newspaper, All Rights Reserved.

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RIVERS

A new illustrated book on rivers by Bill Benfield.

Published by Tross Publishing, Wellington.

The state of our rivers has become a political hot topic, so much so, that even politicians’ are getting involved. Everyone has a different idea about what we should do about it. Urban based and often conservation groups blame agriculture, particularly “dirty dairy”.

Rural communities blame “townies”.

Both are right and both are wrong.

On what was dryland farming land, irrigation has changed the game The problem of our rivers is as much a problem of both central and local government, farming, urban discharge and a national “out of sight out of mind” attitude.

Out of sight and out of mind in riv-

ers treated as open sewers. The big blobs are plastic bags of rubbish and the small ones are lumps of rancid fat.

Privatising what were river margins means council flood control now happens in the river bed.

Even if the water is clean, there will still be no swimming here.

A river lost Because river margins are privatised, we have lost access to rivers, and often we don’t see what is going on.

What was once public access beside a road bridge is now private. A gated cattle race and beyond, a river bed overgrown with broom and blackberry.

Even the so-called “mitigations” like fencing rivers to exclude animals in reality only adds to the rivers woes. As well, people are also excluded and the river is now lost.

The fenced off river – it is over there somewhere!

Where does it all end up? In the oceans, habitat to many rare and endangered species including Maui’s dolphin.

Out of sight and out of mind. This example is Northern Hemisphere, but in the south, we have Henderson Island which is pretty bad.

This book looks at all these factors, plus issues of free water to foreign exporters and impending problems concerning a major push by the Iwi Leaders Group for ownership and potential commercialisation of water rights.

It looks at the possible cures, such as rivers of a swimmable standard and asks what is needed for this to be achieved.

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SEABOUND CHARTERS

It’s vital - Come September’s Election Make Sure You Vote!

The ominous signs are there, the erosion's happening and accelerating dirty and depleted river flows, bio-security measures ignored, sea fisheries mis-management with rife dumping, ecosystem poisons aerially dumped on public lands, oil exploration rights in public wilderness parks and offshore, green light to foreign buyers of land and high country, an inept Department of Conservation, uncontrolled immigration and no population policy, unplanned growth and exploitation all chasing growth and more growth—

You know it anyhow it’s happening under your very eyes The Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of NZ (CORANZ) has prepared its Election Charter spelling out 17 needs for responsible government.

We need a government that will:• Value outdoor recreation as a legitimate right for all • Uphold the “clean, green NZ” philosophy - clean rivers, no toxins, strong bio-security gateways • Implement a meaningful, positive standard for water purity and river flows • Fully recognise trout, salmon and perch as valued recreational assets • Fully recognise and manage game animal species e.g. deer, wapiti, chamois, tahr • Recognise fish (fresh and saltwater) and game animal species as publicly owned resources • Avoid damming or diversions of public’s rivers • Alternative energy options to be implemented (e.g. wind, solar) • Recognise public’s right it catch saltwater fish and gather shellfish as paramount in management • Cease the use of ecosystem poisons such as 1080 and brodifacoum * Shun the “pest philosophy”, adopt a resource mentality and practice management • Establish an Environmental Protection Council, independent of government and with strong powers • Re-order, re-prioritise and restructure the Department of Conservation to be top three priorities of conservation, environment and recreation, commercial undertakings be rejected.

• DOC’s name be changed to Department of Conservation and Outdoor Recreation • DOC adopt a realistic 21st century eco-approach and discard unrealistic futile creation of a 500 AD world • Impose much stricter effective controls on foreign ownership of NZ land • Public access deficiencies be addressed • Recognise the Treaty of Waitangi was about “one people” and egalitarian public ownership • Discard free market ideology to solve environmental problems, e.g. carbon trading roots • Establish a population policy for NZ- immigration controls, plan for size both national and regionally GD and its single focus economic ethos and replace with Genuine Progress Indicator • Discard GDP based on three values-social, economic, environmental - i.e. quality of life

CORANZ urges all outdoor New Zealanders to take up these issues with MPs, candidates in the forthcoming election and raise these issues with letters to editor, face book and other social media outlets.

‘Vote for Outdoors Values’

Watch next month for CORANZ’s analysis and rating of the political parties Secretary: Hugh Barr, 12 Versaillies St, Karori, Wellington.

E mail: hugh@infosmart.co.nz - Website: www.coranz.org.nz

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Win at Kev and Ian’s Marine There’s lots of Prizes up for grabs at Kev & Ian’s Marine this month.

As part of Stabicraft celebrating 30 years. For the months of July, August and September 2017, all New Zealand-based purchasers of a new STABICRAFT 1410 go in the draw to win their money back!

1 purchaser in New Zealand will win back the entire purchase price of their new Stabicraft 1410 Boat/Motor/Trailer package.

All new purchases of 1410 Explorers, Frontiers and Fishers in New Zealand are eligible for entry Competition Ends Saturday 30th September Prize Draw drawn live on Stabicraft Facebook page Monday 2nd October 2017. To enter a customer must purchase a new 1410 from a NZ Dealer during the competition period.

The definition of a purchase is a signed sales and purchase

agreement and deposit paid.

Boats sold off Kev and Ian’s yard will get 2 bonus entries (3 in total) into the draw.

Boats sold that are ordered from the Stabicraft factory will receive 1 entry Kev and Ian’s Marine have some great deals on Stabicraft 1410’s and a range of models in stock.

Rugged aluminium alloy construction makes the 1410’s a unique low maintenance boat which is light enough to manoeuvre easily on land or at sea.

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Win an accessories package at Kev and Ian’s Marine.

Visit Kev and Ian’s Marine, at 18 Mahia Road, Takanini. Sign up for their email mailing list at the counter and be in the draw to win a prize pack.

Win Prizes on Kev & Ian’s Marine Facebook Page Like Kev & Ian’s Marine Service Facebook page to see the latest boat specials and competitions.

Kev and Ian’s Marine are running competitions on their Facebook page regular.

For more information Contact Kev and Ian’s Marine, 18 Mahia Road, Takanini. Phone 09 267-4999 ext 1 or email sales@kev.co.nz

CORANZ Spells Out Outdoor Duties for Next Government The Council of OUTDOOR Recreation Associations has sent political parties and MPs a 17 point charter as to what is needed environmentally from a future government.

CORANZ Co-chairman Andi Cockroft said each election brought a deepening of the environmental crisis which impacted negatively on NZ’s outdoor recreation herit-

age and its ‘clean and green’ claim.

“We’ve seen rivers once prized trout streams such as the Selwyn run dry and become a succession of stagnant isolated pools, nitrate levels are leaching into aquifers and rivers, ecosystem toxins are spread over public lands for bizarre mythical reasons, the much lauded sea fisheries quota system is a disaster

with fish dumping exposed, high country lands are going to overseas buyers and access is being denied to Kiwis plus other degradation of the environment, its resources and outdoor recreation,” he said.

Government had gutted the RMA and diminished the public’s right to have a say in decision making. He gave the example of gov-

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ernment’s state takeover of the ECan council in Canterbury and of 1080 decisions now handled solely by Minister for the Environment Nick Smith in Wellington.

“I regard those as illustrations of an arrogant, dictatorial government,” he said. “It’s performance assessment time on September 23.”

Andi Cockroft said the biggest threat to stopping the rot was apathy amongst voters.

Over a million New Zealanders have not registered or did not vote in recent elections he said.

“To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain,” said Andi Cockroft. “Just get out and vote.”

Andi Cockroft said apathy had always been a danger to getting the best government. He quoted Abraham Lincoln, famous USA president who said “Elections belong to the people.

It’s their decision. If they decide

to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”

The New Zealand environment was under threat and the country needed an administration with an eye to the future and a high respect for the environment. Among the CORANZ charter’s 17 points was population management as a key. New Zealand needed to set a limit to its size.

“With 4.8 million people now and increasing, with environmental standards and quality of life being eroded what will 5 million, 6 million and 7 million people bring?”

The CORANZ charter also said a rethink was needed as to measurement of a country’s wealth.

“Do we measure it by the number of colour tv sets, motorcars and washing machines or do we measure it by abundance in the outdoors and clean flowing rivers and similar values?”

Consequently the CORANZ charter calls for replacing the money-

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based GDP with a GPI based on quality of life values. Some farsighted economists advocated this need. Government needed to also.

Andi Cockroft said CORANZ represented a number of outdoor recreation groups from hunters to anglers, both salt and freshwater, to 4WD enthusiasts and conservationists. CORANZ was keen to welcome new members.

“Any group interested should go to the website www.coranz.org,”he said.

In the short term CORANZ’s message was not just to its members but the greater NZ outdoor recreation public. Over a million Kiwis enjoy the outdoors but they must shrug off that apathy and vote.

Andi Cockroft likened it to a sleeping giant that needed awakening.

“If every one of the million outdoorsminded Kiwis voted after deep consideration, government would have to respect the public interest, the environment and recreation,” he said.

Crayfish situation critical The MPI is ignoring overwhelming evidence that the CRA2 fishery, off Auckland’s east coast and Bay of Plenty, is in critical condition.

Nathan Guy Minister for Primary Industries the man charged with protecting our fishery is deliberately turned his back on recreational fishers and says there is no problem and that he has no intention of doing anything about the declining number of crayfish until at least April 2018.

This hardline attitude is deplorable when the minister has the powers under the Fisheries Act to enact emergency powers to protect the declining numbers of crayfish.

All Guy has done is to reduce the number of crayfish being taken by 15% and this is just the crayfish

that commercial operators can’t catch. What level of stupidity is this ministry operated at. With Turner and Guy at the helm it’s no wonder the fishery is in the state its in.

Now they tells us they have brought forward a “full scientific review” of the fishery to later this year.

Since 1997 the commercial fishers have more than doubled their efforts and despite the technological advances they are still not able to catch their full entitlement.

The Ocean Bounty programme is a con job to convince New Zealanders that the fishery is well managed but if they knew the true extent of the mismanagement of the fisheries they would be appalled and ashamed of our

so-called “world class” management approach. The Bay of Plenty finfish (at less than 20% biomass) and CRA2 has collapsed. They cannot regenerate themselves. Emergency measures must be taken.

The Fisheries Act says the purpose of the Act is ‘to maintain the potential of fisheries resources to meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations’, yet the lack of crayfish in this once-abundant fishery is not being addressed by the Ministry or its Minister.

The Minister and Fisheries Management is failing the people of New Zealand and the fisheries they are charged with protecting.

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Ecological effects of aquaculture There is 210 hectares of consented oyster farm space in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, accounting for nearly half of national production, and approximately 1500 hectares of mussel farms.

Sea Change identified 13 areas within the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park that should be prioritised for future aquaculture development.

It also identified areas that are not suitable for aquaculture, and recommends means to ensure potential adverse ecological effects associated with aquaculture are appropriately managed.

The public are willing to compromise and accept recreational fishing impacts however the commercial fishing industry is deceptive in its propaganda to support that rec fishing needs monitoring.

Commercial fishing operations need to be made sustainable, restricted and removed from the Gulf.

Fishing technologies and sectors that damage the seafloor and its habitats are not acceptable. Commercial fishing quotas should be made for all species and limits placed on size (under/over) ensuring that there is equity between recreation and commercial fishers.

Quotas are not targets’, and people need to be educated to take what they need and

leave the rest for another day.

Introduce or strengthen penalties for people or organisations breaking the rules and give regulatory agencies the funding and resources they need to enforce compliance.

Sea Change identified five aspects of water quality and marine pollution.

These are sediment, nutrients, heavy metals, microbial pathogens, and other risks and threats.

They found excessive sediment runoff from the land to be the main cause of degraded marine habitats in estuaries, harbours and the Inner Hauraki Gulf.

The marine environment is generally nitrogen limited. The introduction of nutrients, particularly nitrogen, promotes the growth of phytoplankton which is the basis of the marine food chain. Nutrients in the marine environment come from upwelling of nutrient-rich bottom waters from the sea and from land-sourced discharges. Some enhanced levels of nutrient can be beneficial, as they increase the productivity of the marine system, but too much can cause excessive phytoplankton growth.

When the phytoplankton dies, they drop to the seafloor and decompose in a process that uses oxygen in the water and generates carbon dioxide that acidifies the seawater.

Low oxygen levels can damage marine life. Acidification of seawater can affect species which use carbon to build structures, especially bivalves such as mussels. Nutrients from the land are not usually a problem where harbours and estuaries are often well flushed by the tide.

The Firth of Thames is sensitive to excessive nutrients because it is not well flushed and the water column is sometimes stratified.

In summer and autumn, the Firth has higher levels of phytoplankton than the rest of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. In autumn, oxygen depletion and water acidification have been measured in the outer Firth.

Most of the toxic heavy metals come from industry discharge and the high application of fertilisers, such as zinc, copper, mercury and cadmium into the waterways which flush into the Gulf.

The biggest threat to the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park is commercial greed. Aquaculture within the Park needs to be severely restricted with parameters set around the debris and mess that is blatantly thrown over the side of harvesters.

With the growing number of recreational boaties and fishers using the park commercial fishing for finfish must be completely banned.

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Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. Because much of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park has been heavily developed, particularly around Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula, it is important that we protect remaining areas with high landscape and natural character values. This can be achieved through locating marine farms in appropriate areas that avoid adverse effects on these values.

Chemicals associated with marine farming may include feed additives, antifoulants, and treatments for bacterial diseases or parasites like sea lice.

Currently no chemicals are used in shellfish farming, apart from treated timber for inter-tidal

oyster farm racks, or in salmon farming apart from copper in antifoulants and zinc in feed.

Antibiotics are not currently used in New Zealand. Good management practice minimises the use of additives and chemicals, and consent conditions can restrict their use.

Structures in the water have an impact on currents and waves. This has the potential to reduce currents and wave energy. This may be positive by reducing the wave energy reaching the coasts, and hence reduce shoreline erosion, or could negatively affect surf breaks.

Effects can be reduced by locating farms in areas that are not a significant part of the swell cor-

Thames beach cleanup

Mussel farm effects on wild fish stocks When selective breeding is used for farmed species which are also present in the wild, the mixing of farmed and wild populations can potentially impact on the genetic structure of wild fish populations.

There is also the risk of the transfer of diseases and parasites between farmed and wild stocks. This is mainly an issue for finfish farming where escapes can roam widely and mix with the wild population.

This means that there needs to be tight control over finfish farm infrastructure to avoid the risk of

escapees. On the other hand, released farm fish could be used to supplement wild stocks (for example, in Japan it is a part of the conditions of having a fish farm that stock is released to build up the wild stocks). These issues require ongoing research. Effects on wildlife Marine farms may exclude wildlife; either directly through displacing desired habitat, or indirectly through human presence or excessive noise. On the other hand, marine farms can attract fish, birds and marine mammals due to

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the increased availability of prey species that are attracted by the habitat provided by farm structures, as well as for artificial reefs.

Marine farms have the potential to exclude or modify how marine mammals use habitat when they impact on foraging, resting and nursery areas and migration routes. In addition, marine mammals can become entangled in structures, ropes and other non-biological waste material. Underwater noise associated with farm activities may also interfere with natural behaviours.

The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park has several endangered marine mammal species, including Bryde’s whales, bottlenose dolphins and orca, which need to be safeguarded from any adverse impacts from aquaculture. This can be achieved through careful siting of farms and good management of equipment to minimise any waste material entering the marine environment.

Areas with significant or outstanding conservation value for other wildlife may also demand additional safeguarding from impacts.

The Firth of Thames intertidal flat Ramsar site is an example. On the one hand, some overseas studies suggest that shorebirds may benefit from the establishment of marine farms through the provision of extra feed, so long as detritus from the farm does not smother the seabed.

On the other hand, the disturbance of waders could increase with marine farms in the immediate vicinity (boat traffic, presence of farm workers, noise), and the cost to birds of disturbance may be high when they are putting on weight prior to their annual migration.

Effects on landscape and natural character Marine farming on the sea surface, by its very nature, introduces human-made structures and activities into a natural environment. This can include buoys, racks, sea cages, supporting structures and vessel movements.

Such structures and activities can adversely impact on natural landscape and natural character values of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.

The concepts of landscape and natural character encompass both the ‘naturalness’ of an area, which is the extent to which it is free from human-made structures and influences, and people’s experience of that naturalness.

Retaining the naturalness of high value coastal landscapes and seascapes is important to protect cultural values and the quality of life and economic prosperity of the

ridor for popular surf breaks, by orienting infrastructure so it does cut across main current flows and by modelling the hydrodynamic effects, including cumulative effects of any proposed large scale aquaculture development.

Individual marine farms may be judged to have an acceptable ecological effect but they need to be considered in the context of both other marine farms and other human activities that are stressing the same ecosystem. This becomes particularly important as additional farms are proposed, existing activities increase in intensity and new activities appear.

Some Thames locals had no fishing on this particular morning so decided to hit the beaches. This is what they found in less than 800 meters of coastline in 10 mins out of Thames. Mussel ropes, Berley bag mesh, fishing nets, Plastic drink bottles and aluminium cans and various other items.

This is quite a sobering sight when you see that much rubbish from just 800 metres of beach.

We know that the mussel farmers do an annual beach clean-up - but is it enough?. With their increased production from when the original consents were issued, they should be doing these clean ups quarterly.

An awesome effort in picking up this rubbish. We all enjoy the ocean and what it provides us with fish and seafood, so it is rewarding to give something back by these clean ups.

NZ shellfish under threat by ocean acidity According to two New Zealand scientists local shell fish like mussels, oysters and kina are under threat if nothing is done to balance the levels of acidity in our inshore fishery. While some species are already experiencing difficulties, which could worsen as time goes on.

The higher acid levels can cause

stunted growth and the weakening of the kina, paua and mussels shells, while finfish can also be threatened with the acid levels causing smaller fish sizes and physical deformities.

Scientists advise that if we don’t start reducing the amount of other stresses we are putting on our environment, we will

probably start seeing some issues in the next 20 - 30 years.

The solution to preventing acid levels from increasing was to reduce carbon emissions, however New Zealand was failing in doing that, as there was little legislation to manage the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere.

Salmon fish farm waste system trial A trial by Australia’s biggest salmon company to collect fish waste under its pens in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast looks on track to meet with official approval.

In May, Tassal was told it had to install tarpaulins under some of its pens if it wanted to keep about 6,000 tonnes of fish, which the EPA has valued at about $60 million.

The EPA announced it would reduce the overall cap on production from 14,000 to 12,000 tonnes for the 12 months from June.

But companies will be able exceed the new limit if an approved waste collection system

is installed under fish cages.

The EPA’s management of Macquarie Harbour is the subject of legal proceedings launched by rival salmon company Huon Aquaculture. The harbour is in such a mess, and that mess is subject to state and federal legal proceedings.

The EPA should be monitoring conditions in the harbour.

They certainly should not be reporting to the public that there had been success in the harbour without releasing any evidence to demonstrate that.

That evidence should incluse how much solid faeces has been

captured, how much dissolved waste has been captured and what percentage of marine life is alive under the pens, and what impact has the trial had on the level of oxygen under the water.

Tassal has previously been ordered to de-stock its pens closest to the World Heritage Area after it was discovered they had created a dead zone.

Tassal said it did not want to comment until the EPA made a final determination on the trial.

There is no reason that mussel farmers can’t do something similar.

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Judgment for Motiti Salmon mortality info withheld Rohe Moana Trust The trustees of the Motiti Rohe Moana Trust have sought regional planning controls over fishing to maintain indigenous biodiversity and to provide for the relationship of Maori with their taonga. There was some doubt about the power of regional councils to control fishing. The Environment Court declared, in short, a regional council may impose controls on fishing techniques and methods provided the sole or dominant purpose of the control was a specified resource management purpose.

Fishing and fisheries resources are controlled under the Fisheries Act to provide for the sustainable utilization of those resources.

The evident statutory policy at s 30(2) therefore is that the RMA’s sustainable management purpose will be promoted by the sustainable utilization of fisheries resources under the FA. But the FA does not purport to address, let alone control all the effects of fishing on the wider environment (including people and communities).

Rather the sustainability function un-

der the FA is focussed on biological sustainability of the aquatic environment as a resource for fishing needs.

By contrast, the RMA defines sustainability more broadly to include protection and environment more widely to mean ecosystems and their constituent parts (including people and communities) and all natural and physical resources. In short it is not solely concerned with the biological sustainability of resources for utilization.

Given this, the two Acts can be reconciled by affording primacy to the FA on the utilization of fisheries resources and on the effects of fishing on the biological sustainability of the aquatic environment as a resource for fishing needs. Regional Councils then remain tasked with the management of the other effects or externalities of fishing on the environment as defined by that Act. While s 30(2) injuncts regional councils from exercising the functions specified in s 30(1) to regulate fishing it does not prevent councils from exercising control other effects on the

environment as defined by the RMA. It is not necessary to define the full range of matters that might legitimately trigger the s 30 (1) (d) functions in respect of fishing activities.

But to illustrate, control of fishing to provide for externalities not subject to FA control such as intrinsic values, wahi tapu, navigation, natural landscape, and non-fishing commercial or recreational activity would likely fall outside the s 30 (2) injunction.

A regional council must establish, implement and review objectives and methods for maintaining of indigenous biodiversity.

The need for separate additional RMA control of the effects of fishing on the aquatic environment as defined by the FA will need to be clearly demonstrated, given the very careful calibration undertaken by FA functionaries when setting sustainability measures, fixing a TAC, allocation fisheries stocks, providing for rangatiratanga or making regulations to give effect to the FA’s purpose.

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The Kenepuru & Central Sounds Residents Association Inc. (KCSRA) a “watchdog for residents and property owners” in the Marlborough Sounds showed an interest in unusual mortalities of salmon on the Waihinau Bay farm in 2012 and submitted an Official Information Act request to gather more information on the mortalities.

Some of this important information was withheld as it would have shown to the public of NZ the depth of fatalities and seriousness of the mortalities with Salmon farming in the Sounds.

The information was withheld to avoid prejudicing the entrusting of information to the Government of New Zea-

land on a basis of confidence.

It took a complaint to the Ombudsman by the group to have an interim report released.

The public of New Zealand have a right of access to this information and when an issue this serious appears to be covered up by MPI, it only shows that the lack of trust in the department is fully warranted.

NZ King Salmon’s bio-security controls: Lacking A recent MPI report into unusually high death rates of salmon at one of NZ King Salmon’s (NZKS) Marlborough Sound’s farms has found the company wanting.

The company has been censured for lax biosecurity controls after two previously unknown bacteria were found in its fish.

The deaths were found to be due to the two bacteria, yet it was not until April 2016 four years after the 2012 high level of salmon deaths that MPI placed strict biosecurity controls on King Salmon. Why? Following unusually high levels of salmon deaths at NZKS farms in February 2015, NZKS provided salmon samples to determine whether an infectious agent could have been causing the deaths. From the samples, two new-to-New Zealand bacteria were confirmed in king salmon: a New Zealand Rickettsia-like organism (NZ-RLO1) and Tenacibaculum maritimum. This was the first time these two bacteria had been confirmed in New Zealand.

Of the two bacteria, the NZ-RLO is listed as an unwanted organism under the Biosecurity Act 1993.

However, chief executive Grant Rosewarne said that the bacteria occurred naturally in the environment and there was

no sign its fish were a carrier of disease but admitted that the company can always do things better.

That’s like saying the Ebola virus occurs naturally in the environment and nothing needs to be done until an outbreak occurs.

This shows the disdain and contempt Rosewarne has for New Zealand’s bio-security protection.

Mr Rosewarne said the main issue was its farms did not have enough space to ensure its salmon were healthy all the time.

Making excuses for a lack of proper farming conditions is what concerns the public. It is the businesses and councils responsibility to ensure that our inshore waters are properly protected with regulations, and audits. If NZ King Salmon is not compliant and covering up bio-security issues then it should be prosecuted and shut down. Rosewarne cannot be allowed to run roughshod over NZ’s environment. Stricter controls need to be put in place to ensure that the environment is not trashed and public are not hoodwinked.

Rosewarne admits that it is really important that salmon are farmed in a good location. “They need depth, they need temperature, they need a really good feed and they need as low a stress as possible.”

He said there was not a single negative consequence anyone could point to as a result of those “relatively minor” issues. King Salmon’s export markets may yet prove this statement hollow.

Whilst Rosewarne might accept biosecurity breaches and unknown bacteria found in salmon as minor issues, this is wholly unacceptable and not just to the wider public but to consumers as well.

Rosewarne further admits “The main issue is, do we have enough space for top world-class biosecurity, and the answer ... is no.” Then he should be making this clear to consumers, as they have a right to know what they are putting in their mouths.

This latest report showed the company ignored MPI’s controls and continued to turn possibly infected fish into berley for sale in the North Island.

This forced the MPI to send an urgent notice to the company to stop distribution of the berley.

MPI’s investigation found several breaches of its biosecurity management plan, and that the company failed to follow best practice for preventing the spread of disease.

Nationals broken promises on rec fishing reserves Conservation spokesman Smith and Primary Industries spokesman Guy made an announcement at the last elections that the re-elected National Government would introduce two recreational fishing parks covering areas of the inner Hauraki Gulf and the Marlborough Sounds as part of a wider reform of marine protection legislation. They also made this promise during the previous elections.

“This is a first for New Zealand. We are going to create a new concept of recreational fishing parks in a new Marine Protected Areas Act. These areas will be reserved predominantly for recreational fishing and will enhance the opportunity for Kiwi families to catch fish in areas like the inner Hauraki Gulf and the Marlborough Sounds,” Smith says.

The lie. The National government never really intended to carry this out. This was a ploy to get votes.

Sure there was opposition from

commercial fishing, but because of the government’s ties to the seafood industry that lobby hard out to get their way Frightened to lose the recreational vote the lie keeps growing and will be used again these elections. The new Promise – we will do this after September 23.

This national government does not deserve either a party vote or a candidate vote, it is dishonest and corrupt to the very core.

This is now the last straw for us and is the last time ever we will accept a broken promise from the national party. the recreational fishers will never forget the nine years of opportunity the national party had​to introduce the recreaational fishing only reserves that was entirely a national party concept the recreational fishers did not ask for.

For this reason we have a concept for the national party that you didn’t ask for.

The national party should now consider that from now and forever more it has lost the recreational fisher vote. we will forevermore promote the fact that the day you own a recreational fishing rod it will be inappropriate for you to vote national.

The slogan in fishing magazines, fishing shops, boats storage and on packets of hooks, should be: “If you own a fishing rod it is inappropriate to vote national.” or “the national party goal is to export your recreational fish.​” The National Party has broken any trust or respect that NZ’ers owe them. We owe them nothing, but we do owe ourselves and those who share this our inshore fishing areas and a government that listens, can relate to what the average man in the street is dealing with, and respect for our concerns. Apparently the arrogance of the National Party knows no bounds. Let’s rein them in people!

Salmon farm company seeks judicial review NZ King Salmon has filed for a judicial review to try to quash a mussel farm extension threatening one of its proposed relocation sites identified by the MPI as a possible space for salmon farming.

Marlborough Aquaculture already has an existing mussel farm in the area, around Blowhole Point, in the outer Pelorus Sound and is seeking consent to expand.

If consent was granted, the roughly 10-hectare extension would effectively cover the proposed salmon farm. So, King Salmon filed their own resource consent application to use the space in January.

King Salmon applied to create a 7.5-hectare mussel farm in the area,

then sought a judicial review challenging the legitimacy of the Marlborough Aquaculture application in a bid to get it deemed incomplete.

The case set to be heard in the Blenheim High Court hinges on a survey Marlborough Aquaculture included in its resource consent.

King Salmon is arguing that the council should never have accepted the application, because a benthic survey - part of an assessment of environmental effects - was done for the existing mussel farm, not the proposed extension.

David Clark Marlborough Aquaculture director said the company supplied enough material for a reasonable assessment to be made,

and once the council accepted the application and requested more information, they complied.

He said: “The reason they’re doing it obviously is because the council have granted priority, in terms of the application, in favour of Marlborough Aquaculture.”

King Salmon CEO Grant Rosewarne said they had tried to be a good corporate citizen and consult with Marlborough Aquaculture about the proposed salmon farm.

The judicial review sought a declaration that the Marlborough Aquaculture application was incomplete, and that the decision to accept the application be “quashed”.

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Shocking state of Coromandel Boat Ramps

Oamaru Bay boat ramp at low tide

Following on from last month’s article on the shocking state of Coromandel Town’s boat ramps and the aloof manner in which the Thames Coromandel District Council is treating visitors and tourists to the town, we have had an influx of calls from other residents on the Coromandel side of the Peninsula regarding the state of their boat ramps.

These residents have become particularly concerned with the lack of assistance, maintenance, upgrading, stalling and delays from the TCDC. While on the other side of the Peninsula it appears that towns like Whangapoua, Whitianga, Tairua and Whangamata get preferential treatment, with well-built boat ramps which have jetties, terrific car parking, lighting, fuel, and security.

These residents wanted to become part of the Community Board but the Board gets little to no information from the TCDC which makes it a waste of time. The TCDC say they can’t do anything or give more money as there are not sufficient people living in Coromandel, yet thousands upon thousands of visitors, day trippers and tourists flock here throughout the year which is disregarded by the TCDC as they are not residents.

Many of the boat ramps surround-

ing the peninsula provide key access points for residents and visitors to the various communities that heavily rely on the visitor and tourist traffic throughout the year.

The wind direction or changes in wind direction on this side of the Peninsula changes the safety of the boat ramps very fast and without adequate protection several of the ramps become particularly dangerous very quickly.

Starting from Thames the state of the ramps is dire and something positive for these communities needs to be done.

The Kopu boat ramp is built on the banks of the Waihou River just out of Thames and is subject to tidal flows and flooding. This is probably one of the most dangerous boat ramps in the Hauraki Gulf.

If you are heading out from this ramp at low tide you are likely to get stuck in the mud, or hit the pieces of concrete or built up stone areas just under the water surface because of the large amount of silt and debris from the river. The mud is smelly and makes a real mess of boats.

High tide is just as treacherous and you have to really know what you are doing as you attempt to navigate the estuary/mud flats/and tidal surges.

Then if you do get out to the mussel farms you have to get back in.

Car parking is also an issue as few cars would not get broken into as it’s not visible or lite well.

Te Puru boat ramp, is a shallow ramp which is relatively good on a fine day but it is particularly bad if you want to retrieve your boat when the wind turns. The locals have given many boaties a helping hand as it doesn’t take much of a surge for the water to come over the transom. Then it’s all over.

Waioumu Ramp The old pole on a rock was a guide for boaties and was pulled down. The marker was there to indicate a large boulder. Now they have two markers there in the soft sand. The ramp has disappeared with about fifteen metres of concrete barely visible and access by for locals who use a tractor or four wheel drive.

There are several other ramps and access point at Ruamahunga Bay, Tapu and other locations which are also in poor states at low tide.

Waikawau Boat Ramp is another botch up, because of their highhanded tactics the TCDC don’t get on with the Iwi that own the land.

It’s a very popular ramp used by over 300 boaties on most weekends. The TCDC impede any developments or progress here where a second ramp could be favourable and beneficial.

Kereta Ramp owned by the Thames Fishing Club has many low lying rocks and is also particularly dangerous to navigate especially when the wind changes or the sea comes up.

The Sugarloaf ramps are located at Te Kouma. These are purpose built ramps which are again particularly dangerous from half tide as you need a four wheel drive vehicle to launch or retrieve your boat.

Both ramps are very slippery and dangerous as the ramps are smooth concrete with no surface cuts for traction.

They are also treacherous for any foot traffic holding onto a boat while the

one. The dredging done here is just make-believe because of the deep mud in the bay. It is only usable two hours either side of high tide.

Long Bay boat ramp is located at Long Bay Motor camp. It overcrowded from December to March partly because of the campers. It is very shallow and a four wheel drive vehicle is needed at low tide. Parking is at a premium.

Oamaru Bay boat ramp is usable for launching an hour each side of high tide and provides good launching for local residents and visitors from the surrounding holiday camps and tourist chalets but the end of the ramp below high tide is crumbling and breaking up. Parking is also an issue here which causes significant traffic hazards at various times of the day.

The TCDC tried to close it down as it didn’t meet their criteria for public usage but met such fierce opposition from the community they backed down when they found they didn’t own it. This ramp is believed to have been built by the community and the first mussel farmer in the gulf for unloading his mussels but without any consent.

Most of the other ramps north of Oamaru Bay are used by locals that know what they are doing and can be particularly dangerous to those unaware of the hazards.

The poor state of these ramps provides a significant Health and

vehicle is being parked. The concrete ends of the ramps under the water have a very steep drop off which catches trailer wheels during low tide launching and coupled with the slippery surface makes pulling the trailer from the water a difficult manoeuvre.

Both ramps have been severely damaged from the commercial vessels which have crushed and broken the concrete. This broken concrete and large rocks cause havoc at low tide and many boats and trailers have been damaged from launching or retrieving at the bottom of the tides. The TCDC have wardens ‘picking on the boaties’ as they want the rec boaties out and full use by commercial users.

Furey’s Creek and Jacks Point ramps: The threat here is again from the TCDC who say use it or we’ll close it.

Our sources tell us that the Jacks Point ramp was built and maintained by locals who were sick and tired of delays and excuses from the Council that are responsible for the adjacent ramp at Furey’s Creek. However because of the muddy area leading out into the bay it is subject to heavy silting making access only from an hour each side of high tide. This is again particularly dangerous area as from half tide your boat is likely to get stuck in the deep mud and will impede you from getting back onto land.

Furey’s Creek is managed by the TCDC and they have made it look really nice.

This ramp is suffering from neglect and lack of maintenance.

Again a tidal ramp impeded by the mud and poor access. On a scale of one out of ten it is aSugar loaf boat ramp showing the rocks at low tide.

Safety issue which the Council are ignoring not to mention the unnecessary insurance claims.

The TCDC appears to be splitting hairs and lacking judgment on the proposed Coromandel Harbour project.

The TCDC have put out a boat ramps calendar also available on their website showing the wonderful boat ramps in the region which is a complete joke brochure as some ramps barely exist and most likely could cause loss of life due to the mis-information.

The Council are proposing a poorly advertised meeting in early August to hopefully remedy their lack of thought and assistance to the Peninsula economy.

Waikawau The marine industry brings so much into the Coromandel town economy congratulations on your story.

The marine industry and Coromandel deserve better treatment by the Council who are not addressing the issue, when the solution has been presented to them as they don’t want to spend the money on solving the problems they would rather waste money on ridiculous solutions like dredging.

Some boat ramps like Whangamata, Whitianga are great along with the Tairua upgrade, but as for the Thames Coast the boat ramps are appalling.

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Fed farmers - Towing the propaganda line Today kiwis make history!

Katie Milne has done extremely well as the newly elected Federated Farmers president making such bold statements which have destroyed her credibility.

“Let’s be clear – possums are unequivocally the main wildlife carrier and transmitter of Bovine Tb” she stated.

One has to wonder what her relationship with Maggie Barry is and how much her salary increased to make such a ludicrous statement.

It’s rather funny that almost all scientists have reported that Bovine Tb comes from cows and in areas where the disease is most prevalent

the movement of cows is restricted.

Is Katie Milne that gullible or she just another puppet of TBFree and DoC.?

Cows are the carriers of Bovine TB. That’s why it’s called Bovine Tb. It is controlled at the farm gate.

Good old Katie certainly knows everything she been told to say’ These people who publicly come out and make statements should have to supply their data to prove such statements. Put up Katie Milne or shut up! It is purely propaganda to the extreme, At the end of the day, New Zealand by world standards is well below the levels to be classed as

having TB. So officially we don’t even have TB. Figure that one out.

That’s why TB Free say finding a possum with TB is like looking for a needle in a hay stack and that farmers illegally moving stock is the biggest spreader of TB. More effort must be put into movement compliance.

Federated farmers just like Beef and Lamb NZ are wannabe politicians that believe reports that someone has written even if that someone doesn’t have a clue what they’re talking about. The only thing Milne has done is show Federated Farmers for what it is.

Our proposed gun laws With the proposed changes to our gun laws, the recent nonsense that originated from the MP who introduced it is living proof that you can be completely stupid and be elected to parliament.

Same as what I saw in the US, everyone is doing everyone else’s laundry and cooking for the other guy, all the same and nothing of value being made.

This is a service economy; repair what is broke that was bought from someplace else!

There is no manufacturing of value in NZ , cost of living is way too high and strict , no one in their right mind would want to locate a business here , even Peter Jackson changed the part ownership in Weta so he would not get sued if someone got hurt in his movie productions.

The government is not stupid, they have failed to shift cow shit economy to the knowledge economy for the sake of agricultural lobby and appended lifestyle loonies.

They know that they will not get productivity growth to serve our social needs and expectation.

They will not give any tax breaks to the high-tech companies and universities at the expense of their farming buddies.

They admitted it by preparing to embezzle pension funds by raising the pension age.

The current election runs on public trivia centered on the female reproductive organs, suicide and Chinese buying too many houses, build on top of volcanos and who will get the share of the dwindling profit based on the limited capacity of the polluted land.

They have nothing to offer.

It is obvious that they just buying time to strive while the probability of economic collapse looms on the horizon.

The government does not need 400 000 gun owners who can unite in something like American Rifle Association. They are afraid of guns,

they know that the people have had enough and want to make sure that in no ensuing civil war would the people be properly armed.

They are really scared of 400 000 motivated voters who can send then to the rubbish dump of history were they all really belong.

That is why they bypass any democratic procedure by using salaried Government department namely police and organized associates like police union to introduce laws which would make gun ownership as cumbersome as possible and ideally to eliminate gun ownership in this country.

Thus they can dissolve potential opposition and destroy hunting and shooting clubs as a by-product of their policy.

We shall vote for Winston Peters in this situation because he probably provides some balance between these Hillary Clinton buddies and UN managers of Labour.

The Supreme Court has just ruled to protect the Ruahine Forest Park from New Zealand’s largest irrigation dam! Forest and Bird defended nature, and won.

They couldn’t have done it alone.

This victory took 5 years, 3 court cases and thousands of supporters all around New Zealand.

Forest and Bird faced-off the Minister of Conservation who attempted to illegally downgrade 22 hectares of specially protected conservation land so that a private company could build New Zealand’s biggest ever dam for irrigation.

Nature’s voice was heard because of your support.

And, together, we all won.

Long tail bats, fernbirds, New Zealand falcons and the rare wet-

ing in the Coromandel Forest Park.

Good on Forest and Bird for fighting the good legal fight for our Ruahine lands that call the Ruahine For- Forest Park, a “specially protected” est Park home are now protected. public conservation area, and imThanks to this ruling, ALL of New portant also for outdoor recreation.

Zealand’s forest parks are pro- It took a lot of money to confirm what tected from development. That the Conservation Act says - that speis up to one million hectares of cially protected areas are specially conservation land that have been protected. Something that this Narescued from commercial interests tional Government or the Minister by this precedent-setting decision. Maggie Barry certainly don’t share.

Sally Gepp, Forest & Bird’s law- It is also a great pity our outdoor yer defending Ruahine For- recreational national bodies do est Park said “this decision is not have the resources to do this, a major victory for New Zea- or even to form a coalition to do it land’s specially protected lands.” (which FMC used to do for a time.

This victory for nature would not All these High Country Parks and have been possible without the all other Forest Parks are also proaverage everyday kiwi’s belief. tected by this ruling, and the previThere are many other special places ous one in the High Court but more we all love that are under threat, importantly underlines just what like the proposed coal mining in poodles DoC and its Minister are. the Buller Plateau or gold min-

WAIKATO REGIONAL COUNCIL TO ALLOW IWI TO TRADE WATER The Federation of Freshwater Anglers President Graham Carter is concerned that the Waikato Regional Council is voting to give water allocation and trading rights to Waikato Iwi. “It appears that the Waikato Regional Council has approved as a high priority policy: “Iwi rights and interests in fresh water agreed with central government are recognised and provided for”.

They even define success as being: “when Iwi have adequate access and rights to water” says Mr Carter.

“The implications are massive and turn upside down Waikato’s already controversial Variation 6. Those allocated water will see that clawedback and given to Waikato Iwi who’ll

be free to use it as they see fit.”

“This includes selling it back to those it was taken from, but of course, with a margin on top.”

“Yet Waikato Iwi will not be subject to the same nutrient and farming limitations as everyone else, but everyone else will be expected to meet ever tighter water quality rules. This is ‘farm as I say and not as I farm’ with everyone but Waikato Iwi copping the blame and the costs.”

It’s a greenlight for full scale water trading so long as you are from the right Iwi. The gerrymandering even extends to stacked Waikato Iwi representation on the re-established Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board and Waikato Regional Council Co-Governance Committee.

This is a complete and utter sell out.

The National government has said that ‘owning a resource like water is as nonsensical as a resource like air.’

If that’s true, what on earth are “Iwi rights and interests in fresh water agreed with central government”?

The purpose of the Treaty of Waitangi was to make us all equal - so is this not contravening the Treaty?

The Federation says that local government must charge a levy for water when we export it which gives the government the right, on our behalf, to collect that money.

The “no one owns the water” is the neo-liberal agenda response.

That way they cannot be challenged if they sell it or give it away.

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Having trouble casting into the surf There is a revolution afoot which has completely solved the problem of casting from the beach and it’s called - the air powered surf caster.

There are two types available; first there is the ‘Big Berther”.

This is a self-contained unit that you simply place on the beach, unfold the legs, put your rod into the holder supplied, drop the supplied sinker and trace with bait attached down the barrel. Pump up to the desired pressure, walk down to where you want to launch the sinker and bait near the surf line, knock back the lever to shoot the line out approximately 200 to 250 metres and that’s it, then sit back while you catch a fish. It

takes about 10 seconds to set it up.

The unit is only 6kgs and 1750mm long and comes in a base unit or a full kit depending on what you desire.

The second option is the Surf Smasher.

This is a smaller hand held unit in which you simply put your rod in a rod holder previously dug into the beach, load the cannon with the sinker and bait, pump up to the pressure your require, then walk down the water’s edge and shoot it out 150 to 200 metres, go back flip over your bail arm and take up the slack. That’s it.

The Surf Smasher is only 1140mm long and 3 kg so fits nicely into the storage boxes on most motor homes or eas-

ily into the boot of your vehicle.

It comes in two different kits, the base kit or a full kit inc pump etc.

The device can also be made left-handed.

The Bait Cannons are sold as an R20 device as it is not a toy.

It has been manufactured in NZ, using Marley high pressure fittings rated at 167psi, and quality PVC/Stainless and Brass fittings (no rust). It uses a brass pressure release valve for added safety.

Contact Keith on baitcannons@gmail.com or web site www.baitcannons.com or call 021 0733374

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Mark Kingsley Young had a bit of fun recently braving the wind and caught a couple of barracuda and carpet shark caught out from the Wairarapa Coast using his baitcannon.

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COROMANDEL FISH AND DIVE REPORT Well it’s been a wet and windy winter so far. Hard to comment on the fishing with the weather, but when we can get out, there has been a good feed of fish and in good condition. Remember this time of the year resident fish will be around the inshore island reefs and out to deeper

foul, 40-50 metres and deeper, so stray lining in close is a good option.

Scallop season opens on the 1st September so time to check those service dates on tanks and check your gear, hopefully all the condemned tanks are all out of the system by now and your new tanks

are ready to go. Yum fat scallops.

All the best from Team Coro Fish & Dive see you out there. Tight lines Des & Gail PS Enjoyed last month’s article on the ramps in Coro Town. Let’s hope the TCDC listen to the people who live and work here !!

Review needed of marine farm biosecurity management Fish deaths that occur in salmon farms are a potential reservoir for disease causing pathogens, and hence the secure and timely disposal of any dead fish is critical to minimize the risk they present.

Yet, strangely Sanford Ltd under the terms of their coastal permit are permitted to dispose of dead fish from their Big Glory Bay operation, by dumping them at sea.

At sea disposal presents an obvious risk of disease passing to wild fish stocks and other wildlife. This is why the oysters from the ongoing mass cull, from infected Marlborough and Stewart Island farms, are being disposed in landfills.

Sanford Ltd has recently chosen to stop disposing dead salmon at sea, but its authorisation to dump at sea by local government under the Resource Management Act, suggests an inherent failure to understand the risks involved.

This indicates a need for direction by the MPI on how councils should consider and address biosecurity issues as it seems Local Authorities do not properly

or routinely consider biosecurity issues when making resource consent decisions for marine farms.

Recommendations made by MPI’s Technical Advisory Group to manage NZ-RLO and T. maritimum, two new bacteria found in the Marlborough Sounds, clearly shows the need for a review and improvement to biosecurity management planning and practices.

The Advisory Group’s site visit to New Zealand King Salmon farms uncovered several obvious breaches of the Biosecurity Management Plan.

The recent report into salmon deaths in the Marlborough Sounds shows that the King Salmon’s Biosecurity Management Plan was inadequate and did not provide clear guidance on the management of biosecurity risks across the company’s salmon farming operations.

The requirements of the Biosecurity Management Plan are poorly applied by King Salmon, and it is uncertain to what extent the plan influences “day to day” management of their farms.

Bins for the storage of dead

salmon were not properly covered or located next to each salmon pen as required by the Biosecurity Management Plan; Dive staff moving between farm sites, used the same dive suits at each site, and although the Biosecurity Management Plan calls for the disinfection of all gear being moved between sites there was no indication that it was done; King Salmon farming operations reflected a low awareness of biosecurity risks.

The King Salmon production cycle is not consistent with international best practice for the prevention of disease. Because new stock is transferred onto farms before the harvest of stock for sale, the new stock will be exposed to any disease agent that is present amongst the older stock in nearby pens.

It was not surprising then that MPI scientists detected the presence of two bacteria in the Marlborough Sounds that had not been detected in New Zealand before.

Observer Programme far from satisfactory After 30 years, has the MPI started to do their job and follow the law?

A Fishing company director and commercial skipper were recently convicted and each fined $5,000 for going to sea without an observer.

The vessel was forfeited to the Crown http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/94847363/Fishing-companydirector-convicted-and-fined-forgoing-to-sea-without-an-observer

But, the NZ Federation of Commercial Fishermen sees the law as a draconian regime. They’re desperate to return to business as usual. QC Heron’s investigation of Operation Achilles details what that looks like – “implied immunity” with MPI senior management directing that dumping and misreporting be ignored, investigations stopped and offenders not prosecuted.

Now the Federation of Commercial Fishermen is urging fishermen to setup observers by reporting on their conversations and provide stories and copies of any ‘actual’ Observer reports to give them leverage over MPI. Doug Saunders-Loder President NZ Federation of Commercial Fishermen wrote to his membership: “It has come to my attention in the most recent months that MPI’s approach to the Observer Programme has become far from satisfactory.

What was historically an objectivebased programme that placed Observers on vessels to observe things like seabird or marine mammal interactions or fishing activity like discards has now turned into a dictatorial approach premised by demands and threats.

The Federation used to work closely with the Observer Programme with the intention of trying to get the days covered whilst working in a considered and practical way. We

worked with both you and MPI in order to place Observers with the least amount of resistance and to make sure that we were always aiming for acceptable targets.

This hasn’t always worked well because fishermen have often found reasons not to take Observers and also because MPI were not always able to provide them.

However, over the past 2 years working collaboratively with MPI to deliver a meaningful and cost-effective Observer programme has come second to MPI using their ‘powers’ and issuing Placement notices to get the coverage they require.

Despite the frustrations that this might cause Federation recommends supporting placements under this draconian regime but we urge in the interests of creating a credible file on Observer coverage (conversations and delivery) that anyone that has a story to tell, please email that to nzfcf@ seafood.co.nz along with any supporting information. If you are happy to, please provide copies of any ‘actual’ Observer reports.

I desperately want to bring back some meaningful engagement and courtesy to this programme and can only do that with the evidence you have.”

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Fishing Federation against MPI having camera footage So much for commercial fishing industry embracing cameras to bring greater transparency to their activities on the water. The industry ‘bullshit’ the public and media and then behind the scenes work to deliberately undermine its introduction.

At their conference in New Plymouth recently the NZ Federation of Commercial Fishermen advised that they needed to increase their membership as many fishermen still sit outside the tent.

In a recent email Doug SaundersLoder President of the Federation of Commercial Fishermen wrote that they are going through tough times. Given the levels of dumping, misreporting fraud and bad practices it appears that many commercial fishers don’t want to be associated.

In order for us to be truly successful the Federation needs the numbers, and are actively encouraging members to work in their regions to increase membership.

Current members were requested to advise non-members that the

Federation has actively fought vehemently and in a principled sense against Iron sands mining on the Taranaki Coast. Their position has been that mining of any description might be allowed as long as that activity does not have a detrimental impact on existing activity and property rights.

The Federation is working constructively with Maritime NZ to ensure that the new electrical standards proposed DO NOT impose unnecessarily on those seeking to up-grade our current inshore fleet.

The Federation is working constructively with MPI to ensure that the Introduction of IEMRs is meaningful and cost effective. The Federation’s position is that cameras should only be used in an ‘objective based’ way and that privacy and video footage ownership are addressed properly.

‘We [the Federation] do not want MPI receiving footage’, in which case it becomes subject to OIA requests from anyone and everyone, and they do not want coverage of areas [all areas except where the

fish come aboard] that have no relevance to the activity of fishing.

The Federation is working constructively with MPI to address the issue of TACC review and want an increase in commercial quotas in return for full reporting, discard policy and Deemed Values noting that they ‘reject camera use in any fishery where these management settings have not been addressed’ [i.e. the vast majority of fisheries].

The Federation has initiated a video campaign against Government’s proposal to introduce Recreational Only Areas in both Hauraki Gulf and in the Marlborough Sounds.

The federation have been personally involved in developing the Seafood Industry advertisement campaign and also working with Graeme Sinclair in putting together the successful ‘Ocean Bounty’ series.

The Federation reports that these are just a few key things that they have either been involved in or that are currently involved in.

And they wonder why they have lost the trust of the NZ public.

Coromandel Harbour Project - Shocking The TCDC is appearing to be dilly-dallying around with the Coromandel Harbours project.

Proposed under the watch of the former Mayor Glenn Leach, the project has been going around in circles for several years.

A lack of consultation with residents and users appears to be at the forefront of the complaints and frustration as thousands upon thousands of ratepayer’s dollars

is being wasted on discussions, meetings and consultation fees.

The project is its concept form is said to be fairly basic. There are a few minor environmental issues around the project but the TCDC is appearing loath to actually do anything other than make excuses and showing an unwillingness to progress the project further.

Initiated in 2015 the project has become a thorn in the side

of the Council that are lacking in funds to start the project.

One has to wonder why the Council are not moving forward on this relatively simple proposal.

There are a couple of NZ companies that have the experience, equipment and ability to carry out the proposed tasks with apparent ease.

The only thing the Council can’t do is nothing – all the money goes into meetings and discus-

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sions and nothing comes from this.

Consultation and dissemination of information is almost nonexistent. After an initial flurry of paperwork the complete project appears to have foundered.

The TCDC and Mayor have a responsibility to ratepayers, visitors and more importantly the business owners to ensure this project is advanced and it happens as promised.

Yet with the apparent lack of willingness to proceed, central government must be involved to ensure that no more funding is wasted.

There were two proposed areas of development, yet it is understood these projects have been ditched and a new concept is being sought by another consultant starting with a blank page.

One was to extend the current Sugarloaf facility and the other Jacks Point.

Even the Waikato Regional Council has been approached and is awaiting the finalised concepts.

The ‘Sugarloaf’ facility was purpose built for the Mussel Farmers to land and offload the mussels harvested from the mussel farms.

The boat ramp was added to enable recreational user’s easy access but has been hampered by the increased mussel harvesting. This is a good thing for the economy and the time has come where i should be completely handed over to mussel farmers. The access road is typical of a Malaysian ‘jungle’ road, and needs significant improvement.

The area between Sugarloaf and Windy Point could easily be reclaimed and used to create further carparking and access for recreational boaties, plus give more space to the mussel farmers.

The proposed ‘park and ride’ idea will drastically affect the charter boat operations. Why should this important part of the Coromandel tourist activities be penalized?

The Jacks Point boat ramps are a disaster.

On the most recent dredging

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on the Furey’s Creek ramp, two Barrier Island and Auckland if a high spots in the creek were re- shallow draft fast ferry was used moved. These two high spots held to boost the town’s economy. back water in the creek allowing But a short and narrow sightmoored craft to remain afloat. Now ed Council with no vision for Towns developmoored craft sit on the bottom. Coromandel Another issue is that marine ment and potential is the issue. craft can’t always get full ac- In the previous Mayoral eleccess to be boat ramp. The ramp tion campaign Sandra Goudie is poorly located and requires stated that she fully supported a rebuild closer to the channel. the development of the CoroThe dredging consent only al- mandel Harbour. Now she delows for 800 cm of sand to be nies having made that promise. dredged per year, which i insuf- The Coromandel wharf is a great faficient. It needs to be done prop- cility but can only be used by larger erly to allow the ferry all year access. vessels at the top of the tide and reIt appears that the TCDC have quires significant dredging to allow turned its back on developing for easier access and better use of Furey’s Creek and Jacks Point be- the facilities. Currently it is the only cause of a pending ‘Iwi’ settlement. refuelling station for marine craft.

For Coromandel Town to thrive Funding for projects like Coand survive it is fully dependent romandel Harbour is availand Paula Bennett on tourism and the support of ‘iwi’. able An application to install a catch- indicated that the specs fit the Coropit for all antifouling debris like mandel Harbour project perfectly,. fan worm etc at Jack’s Point was It is not a difficult or expensive refused by council, so now all this exercise to revamp and sort out waste and leaching from the rub- the Harbour facility. Several expebish dump under Jack’s Point rienced locals have put ideas and goes directly into the harbour. proposals to the Council which A pending investigation by Work- appear to have fallen on deaf ears. bureaucrats are in safe NZ, into the botched efforts The incompetency preby the TCDC has been confirmed charge,

by Worksafe CEO Alan Cooper. vails and this is the problem.

He said that he was looking into The Coromandel Harbour project whether the issues came un- should not be a local Ward issue. der his statutory obligations. It requires serious input from LoA previous Council ramp survey cal and central government. To with cameras was poorly carried do otherwise is denying the Town out using camera monitoring to and impeding the tourist potential. determine the use of the ramp. A judicial review is required on TCDC The survey showed about five boats finances as it is believed that behind using the ramp per day. What it the lack of assistance is the fact didn’t show was that during sum- that the TCDC is near bankruptcy. mer months when the tide is right The crux of the matter is that the about 30-40 boats use the ramp. ferry must be brought into the CoBecause of the limited launch- romandel Town wharf. Once this ing issues who would happens the rest will follow. All the want to use the ramp? TCDC has to do is make a firm comA fast ferry operating from Auck- mitment, get of its laurels and make land would be the answer to t happen. It will relieve reassure Coromandel’s fluctuating tour- on Hannaford’s wharf, take presist potential. It could connect sure off the ‘Sugarloaf’ boat ramp. a no-brainer.

Coromandel to Thames, Great It’s

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How a corrupt government bullies EPA must act on cadmium in fertilisers

By Alfred Harris & Graham Carter

Not satisfied that a recent Supreme Court ruling upheld an earlier Court of Appeal decision that the Department of Conservation does not have the authority to “revoke” the conservation status of 22 ha of forest park land so it can be handed over to the Ruataniwha dam scheme and flooded by the lake, the corrupt National Government proposes to change the law to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that conservation land cannot be grabbed by developers.

This is corruption at the highest levels. If I don’t get want I want I will bully you until I do.

The land is protected by a special conservation status. What part of this is difficult to understand?

The decision is a blow for the proposed Ruataniwha dam – a major irrigation scheme planned for Central Hawke’s Bay – but was also hailed by environmental groups for setting a wider precedent.

The Ruataniwha scheme involves damming a river in the foothills of the Ruahine ranges to create a 7km long storage lake capable of irrigating about 25,000 hectares of farmland in the nearby Ruataniwha catchment.

DoC had agreed to swap the land for 170ha of nearby farmland which is said was of greater conservation value.

Forest & Bird an environmental advocacy group, which mounted last year’s successful Court of Appeal challenge, said the land-swap would have set a precedent enabling any forest park land to be grabbed by developers.

Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said the Government had long believed the law allowed DoC to make land-swaps if it ended up with land that had higher conservation values.

“The Supreme Court finding that the Director-General cannot consider that broader picture has far-reaching implications and we will now be working through the effects of that,” Barry said.

This is as bad as it gets and shows we need to change the government.

If the government stoops this low to get their way they will face some stiff opposition.

The government should be protecting our land, not offering it away for some hair brained scheme. Our public conservation estate was inherited by DoC from land previously administered by the Wildlife Service,

Forest Service and Lands and Survey Department. Along with this came a statutory obligation to manage such public land for conservation purposes, which includes recreation. Just who does Ms Barry think she is – above the land of our land?

It seems to me that Bill English has just disqualified himself and his government from another term.

He thinks he still has a mandate to determine the environmental future of this country and to trade it off for a fistful of dollars. One of the five faces of mission is to care for our environment not caring for the expansion of the economy This government is hell bent on destroying our inshore fishery and the environment and has ignored sustainability and long term stewardship of our resources while widening the gap between those with and those without and Is there any way to contest the law change? A petition would surely get a good backing. More and more people are waking up to the realisation that our environment needs caring for, and now this has happened it puts ammo in our guns!

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Cadmium is a heavy metal present in superphosphate fertilisers.

A 2005 Waikato Regional Council report states that cadmium is the most significant potential contaminant in modern NZ agriculture.

The Waikato Regional Council estimated that 8.3 tonnes of cadmium, mainly as superphosphate fertilisers, is applied to Waikato soils every year. As a result, 157,000 hectares of Waikato farms have reached cadmium soil levels considered unsafe by international standards. The Waikato Regional Council warned in 2005 that fifty eight percent of Waikato land may be lost for some use including dairy because soil cadmium levels are too high for the new food standard.

Unless fertiliser companies take immediate steps to reduce the amount of cadmium in superphosphate fertilisers, or farmers put on less, the number of contaminated farms will continue to increase. Neither seems likely without regulation of some sort.

2016 research carried out by fertiliser companies Ballance Agri-Nutrients and Ravensdown with Massey University showed that the increasingly popular forage crops chicory and plantain, concentrate cadmium.

When will fertiliser companies, Massey University and regional councils warn farmers of this danger?

Cadmium is invisible and soluble in water. Cadmium moves from groundwater into streams and then

into rivers and lakes, accumulating and concentrating up freshwater food chains. This poses an increasing threat to freshwater fisheries and potentially to the health of customary fishers eating a lot of long-lived carnivores like eels.

The Resource Management Act empowers regional councils to monitor and maintain the health of soil, water and air. Because of cost and the need for simplicity only a relatively small number of easily measureable water quality factors are routinely measured. Accumulations of heavy metals, such as zinc and cadmium, up freshwater food chains are not measured or monitored.

Since the reforms of Simon Upton public good science funding is competitive and commercially focused.

Research on the ecological effects of cadmium on freshwater food chains has neither commercial value nor contributes to Government added value export policy. MPI concentrates on the much shorter terrestrial food chains, ignoring adverse effects on the freshwater fishery.

Overseas research paints a grim picture. Cadmium accumulates and is toxic from bottom to the top of freshwater food chains. Decomposing microbes at the bottom of the food chain are vital for recycling nutrients. Cadmium is toxic to many of these microbes.

Lack of toxic effects of heavy metals on freshwater insects observed in laboratory studies does not predict

accurately what happens in streams, rivers and lakes. Real life exposure to heavy metals is for much longer periods and includes exposure to cadmium in the water as well as in food. There is evidence that Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), present in manufactured pesticides and naturally produced by some plants and fungi, enhance the toxic effects of cadmium. Increased global warming will also make the toxic effects of cadmium worse.

Despite repeated warnings the Waikato Regional Council continues to take no action on the preventable accumulation of cadmium in freshwater food chains. Commercial, customary, and recreational freshwater fishers can reasonably expect the Environmental Protection Agency to review the science on potential risk. Given that regional councils acknowledge but don’t act on the risk to farm values growing risk to the environment, EPA action is long overdue. https://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/assets/PageFiles/11184/TR2005-51.pdf http://www.massey.ac.nz/~flrc/ workshops/16/Manuscripts/ Paper_Stafford_2016.pdf https://www.mpi.govt.nz/ protection-and-response/environment-and-natural-resources/land-and-soil/cadmium/ https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/21684/3/ Moreirinha_etal_submittedrev.pdf

DoC denials of major concern Sodium Monofluoroacetate

‘If you drink bottled water or water from mountain streams, then visit this website’ www.watersourcenz.org

(1080) is a colourless, odourless, tasteless poison that has no known antidote. It is toxic to all air breathing organisms.

NZ is the world’s largest consumer of 1080 and it is banned or restricted in most countries because of its lethality and indiscriminate killing power. Sub-lethal concerns include male infertility, embryo changes and immune system damage.

1080 blocks the ability of the body’s muscles and organs to absorb energy from food and results in a slow, inhumane death which can be many hours for birds and up to four days for large mammals.

The Department of Conservation ‘DoC’ and the Environmental Risk Management Authority ‘ERMA’ rate its cruelty at six out of ten.

Their logic in calling it ‘relatively

humane’ is that it is possible to more cruelly torture an animal to death. New Zealand’s much touted and new Animal Welfare Act needed a special exemption for DoC to ‘wilfully and recklessly ill-treat animals’ so that DoC can continue to use 1080 poison.

DoC plans to aerially spread 1080 poison over one million hectares of NZ’s wilderness this year. This is the third massive poisoning operation in four years. DoC’s justification is a ‘beech mast’ which says could lead to population increases of rats and stoats. However, in previous drops the beech masts were ‘light to moderate’ and rat numbers remained low or were zero at the time of the aerial operations in many valleys.

DoC’s science tells us that rat numbers can increase up to fourfold after 1080 operatons and remain high for several years.

Poorly timed operations can increase stoat predation on birds.

Nineteen native bird species have had their corpses test positive for 1080 after aerial operations. In the 63 years NZ has been spreading 1080 poison across our mountains there has been a 99% decline in Kea numbers. Since radio tagging of kea began DoC has killed 40%, 64% and 25% of kea with 1080 poison. Franz Joseph (2008), Okarito (2011) and Arthurs Pass (2013) respectively.

Yet DoC’s recent Press releases point the blame on lead head nails, feeding by tourists and predation for the keas decline.

This public denial of responsibility by DoC is of major concern given that a internal DoC report concludes ‘aerial 1080 may well

be a significant threat to the kea population’ with some drops ‘probably devastating’, Kea are now an endangered species.

Another major justification for aerial 1080 poisoning is the myth that possums transfer bovine tuberculosis (Btb) between areas.

In the last decade 124,000 possums have been autopsied and only 54 had Btb. Most farmers now accept that Btb is moved around NZ on stock trucks and stock movements recording (NAIT) and controls on infected herds is reducing the incidence of Btb. In the last decade our government has injected over 200 possums with Btb and released them into the wilderness in bizarre experiments supposedly, one could argue, to justify further aerial poisoning.

What would happen to NZ’s ‘100% Pure’ branding if DoC’s continual 1080 poisoning campaigns were widely known outside NZ by tourists or of 1080 traces were ever found in exported ffod products?

In 2002 40 tonnes of butter, 20 tonnes of casein and 75 tonnes of venison were recalled for extra testing after bungling 1080 operations.

Ban1080 has 1600 financial members and Ban1080 will appear on every voting paper in NZ on 23rd September 2017.

Trust them with your Party Vote.

Visit the website www.ban1080. co.nz to join or donate.

Share and like them on www. facebook.com/ban1080party.

Authorised by Mary Molloy – Ban 1080 Party Sec 68 La Fontaine Road, Harihari 788413/6/27.

A man entered the bus with both of his front pockets full of golf balls and sat down next to a beautiful (you guessed it) blonde.

The puzzled blonde kept looking at him and his bulging pockets.

Finally, after many such glances from her, he said, ‘It’s golf balls’.

Nevertheless, the blonde continued to look at him for a very long time, deeply thinking about what he had said.

After several minutes, not being able to contain her curiosity any longer, she asked; ‹Does it hurt as much as tennis elbow?’

It’s not nice making fun of fat people.

They’ve got enough on their plates as it is.

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Letter to editor Water

Dear Sir Every time you pick up the paper or turn on TV there is a report of some sort on the state of our waterways.

It all seems to be getting harder and harder to make sense out of it.

- The last few years of drought and falling river flows - Through ever increasing farm irrigation taking water from aquifers or rivers - Over allocation of water supplies by Local Authorities Through continually intensifying dairy conversions - Bringing land into use for which it had never been intended (before or now) - unsustainable Nitrate and phosphorus run off pollution - Growth in waterways and lakes – rock snot/lake snow - Government changing of measuring levels of contaminates to make waterways look healthier (clean and green? Shifting goalposts) - Irrigation schemes that channel vast amounts of water out of rivers for private use, paid for in the main by the taxpayer (you and I) - Consenting water bottling companies to take huge quantities of water for export. Ashburton and Hawkes Bay are cases in point – leaving the poorer quality water for the local New Zealanders to boil before use - Christchurch City Council having to redevelop all its shallow bores, for our household water, deeper down to sustainable qualifier depths - Competition between ‘Clean and Green’ and the reality - Competition from overseas fishermen and supposed “fishing Guides” - Privatisation of lake and rivers – exclusive lodges Which of our political parties

will deal with this serious issue?

While making money in itself is necessary for both our personal being and Country, there must be a balance somewhere that does not ruin New Zealand of the values that we so dearly cherish.

I wonder how we are leaving this planet for our grandchildren.

Name withheld

Seafood Industry corruption

Dear Sir ‘See how we’re committed to protecting our oceans and fishing smarter.’

In light of recent revelations on how corrupt our Seafood Industry is this statement is a bit of an insult of Kiwi intelligence.

The industry is running a campaign promising falsely to be the guardians of our oceans.

The problem with this campaign is that most people that haven’t changed channels see it as a blatant cover-up to the lies and deceit in the industry.

People aren’t stupid.

The people of NZ pay export prices for export reject fish, which is poorly kept in supermarkets, while the industry continues to rape and pillage our inshore fishery The fact that the industry has stooped so low with this campaign portrays how they view the public Brian Jones Whangarei

The Election Outlook

Dear Sir Despite having the biggest voting block, the election outlook for National relies entirely on its current minor party partners.

If these minor parties get voted out (a real possibility for Peter Dunne),

or reduce their number of seats, then National will be in trouble. And that’s where Winston Peters comes in.

Bill English should be stocking his office liquor cabinet with single malt scotch in anticipation that Winston might be spending a lot of time there following the election. And if the next National government is propped up by New Zealand First, its prognosis isn’t good. Look at 1996: disaster. Look at 2005-8: disaster.

National needs to bring home an almighty strong party vote to help its current small suckerfish parties if it wants to avoid a lengthy and tense negotiation with Peters.

They might be odds-on for power - but what price will they pay?

Name withheld

Claims not true

Dear Sir, I am writing in response to your article in the July issue of Fishing Outdoors accusing Fish & Game of betraying shooters.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Fish & Game fights every day to protect the rights of hunters and anglers, preserving their right to hunt and fish, their access to the outdoors and ensuring populations of gamebirds and sports fish can thrive.

That is not the only false claim in the article. I am also confused by the assertion other countries are abandoning non-toxic shot and returning to lead shot use. This is simply not true.

In comparison to other countries, New Zealand actually has a liberal nontoxic shot policy. The only restrictions here are on hunting waterfowl over or within 200 metres of open water.

Hunting ducks with lead shot over stubble or grass 200 metres away from

Visit us on www.facebook/Fishingandoutdoorsnewspaper water is still permitted, as is hunting upland game like pheasant and quail.

And unusually by international standards, waterfowl hunting with .410 shotguns using lead shot will continue to be allowed. This is to accommodate younger hunters just starting out on what will hopefully be a lifetime of waterfowl hunting.

In sharp contrast, the United States, Canada and Britain all demand nontoxic shot be used for waterfowl hunting no matter where it occurs.

There is no distinction made about whether that hunting is over water or land. Some US states also require non-toxic shot for upland game.

Your claim that trials and tests by waterfowl experts have shown lead is not toxic is also untrue. You can’t change the property of a toxic metal by simply not believing in it. Lead is toxic, end of story. That is why it has already been removed from paint, petrol and plumbing – the threat to human health and the environment was just too great to allow it to continue to be used.

Fish & Game is also concerned by the threat eating lead poses to the duck populations our licence holders value so highly.

Exhaustive and repeated scientific studies around the world have shown that ducks are harmed by ingesting toxic lead pellets.

To stop that happening, lead is being banned for waterfowl hunting in many countries around the globe.

The recent vote by Fish & Game’s New Zealand Council signalled it is time all New Zealand waterfowl hunters – not just 12 and 10 gauge users – took equal responsibility for protecting our ducks from the health threat posed to them by eating lead pellets.

It is now up to all hunters to do their bit to ensure our waterfowl can survive and breed successfully without the risk of lead poisoning by shifting to non-toxic shot.

Yours sincerely, Lindsay Lyons NZ Fish & Game Council Chair

1080 is a chemical weapon

Dear Sir The fact that there is no peer -reviewed papers that call for a halt to 1080 use in New Zealand is the cause for the article made public by us.

The fact that chemical weapon called 1080 has been used for 60 years without adhering to the proper safety procedure does not need to be reviewed.

Your opinion that we can continue to expose our population to the deadly poison without safety back up check can be reviewed as well as your opinion that our try was good or not.

The fact that Cook Strait was dumping ground for radioactive waste for 20 years (plutonium waste included) cannot be reviewed because it is fact but your opinion that New Zealand nuclear free can be reviewed based on the very fact on nuclear pollution.

Our try which was not good or not, is to attract public attention to the outrages situation pertinent to the absence of epidemiology reports on 1080.

So be our peer reviewer but stick to the following facts, please answer yes or no: 1. Fluoroacetate called 1080 is designated chemical weapon for poisoning enemy water supply.

1080 was in Hitler's possession as a chemical weapon. The possibility that 1080 was tested on POW and Jews is currently investigated by us.

2.1080 use is severely restricted in the US because US Government put it on the list of weapons potential terrorists would like to possess.

The rapid tests to detect 1080 in liquid food and water supply was developed to prevent the mass murder of US citizens.

3. The proper procedure to for safe use of a chemical is: 3.1 Tests on genetically diverse cells in a lab.

3.2 Statistically relevant tests on approved animals in a lab.

3.2 Investigation of cases death, illnesses and exposures humans to the chemical in question.

Statistical assessment of the

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preliminary data of the human exposure if possible.

3.3 Approved epidemiology research of the affected population after releasing the chemical to environment namely drinking water.

4. There is 50 epidemiology research on water fluoridation published and none on chemical weapon 1080.

What we try to do is to attract attention that knighted accountants did not follow standard safety procedure regarding 1080.

Standard procedure or call it simply standard approved by Parliament, UN or accredited professional body to which Parliament delegates responsibility for developing and maintaining application of the standard.

Any breach of the standard reported for subsequent investigation and probable prosecution. standard is the law.

The The law can be reviewed by Parliament only.

If DoC did not inform Parliament that 1080 is a chemical weapon then they mislead Parliament and they did not inform Parliament.

If DoC did not inform Parliament about the standard scientific procedure for handling chemicals and standard reporting procedure on reporting results on application namely chemical weapon1080 they mislead Parliament again. It is a fact too.

Please note that end results of standard procedure for 1080 application can be positive from the public safety point of view or negative, but the very fact that the standard safety procedure has not been followed is outraging.

It is much more serious matter than any scientific article.

The purpose of their lie was not only to hide that 1080 is a chemical weapon for the sake of their politic but take it out of the very standard procedure pertinent to the handling and very possession of the chemical weapon.

The facts cannot be reviewed.

The opinions pertinent to facts and methods used to obtain facts can be reviewed.

USED OUTBOARDS Fish and Game telling porkies!!

FOR SALE Dear Sir The NZ Fish and Game Council used the excuse that Minister and DoC instructed them to ban the use of sub gauge lead shot in sub gauge shot guns.

This is what they used as their excuse to go ahead with the decision, but it is a complete lie.

An Official Information request by NZ Guns and Hunting issue 156 DoC stated that DoC did not in-

struct the Council to ban sub gauge lead shot but rather asked them why it should not be extended.

Fish and Game are also looking at a complete ban on the use of plastic wads which is absolutely ridiculous.

You don’t ban anything unless you have something to replace it with.

The NZ Council also plan to force all shot gun owners to change the weapons to 3 shots maximum.

Not sure what their agenda is

Name withheld to protect the source

but the whole thing is crazy. In the Thorp firearms report several years ago Judge Thorp wanted to physically crimp all semi-auto guns to two shots maximum. That report is still sitting there. If our own organisation does not support us using semi-autos what’s to stop the Police forcing this on us?

Name withheld By request

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Eight major organisations have joined in supporting a sensible and realistic plan to rescue New Zealand’s fresh water from its dangerously unhealthy state.

The Freshwater Rescue Plan (FRP) presents seven achievable steps for the Government to protect the health of people and their waterways in New Zealand.

Supporters of the FRP now include 16 well-known organisations with a collective membership of over 1 million people. The organisations supporting the Plan include leaders in science, public health, tourism, recreation, community, and environmental organisations.

Fresh water is one of the most important issues facing New Zealanders this election year. Pressure is building for political parties to support the entire Plan to reverse the decline of freshwater quality.

So far, the Government has rejected the FRP, and ignored requests for meetings with the Plan’s supporters. The Government is not taking the degraded state of our rivers and lakes seriously.

We know the health of our people and wildlife is already suffering the consequences of widespread freshwater pollution. The 16 organisations want to know: how many more people have to die, how many more

native plants and animals do we have to lose, and how many more rivers and lakes will become toxic before real solutions are pursued?

The Government has the power to protect rivers and lakes. Organisations supporting the FRP are asking all political parties to take responsibility, and adopt the entire plan into their policies.

The Plan’s steps include setting strict and enforceable water quality standards based on human health and ecosystems health limits, withdrawing public subsidies of irrigation schemes, supporting sustainable agricultural practices, and decreasing cow numbers. The FRP also calls for better water quality reporting, a polluter pays system, and a longterm goal of prioritising a lowcarbon economy for New Zealand.

If all seven steps of the Freshwater Rescue Plan are enacted, fresh water in Aotearoa can return to the once pristine state that New Zealand is known for.

The Freshwater Rescue Plan was launched in June; four months after the Government released its disappointing ‘Clean Water Package’, which was widely criticized for lacking urgency and weakening protection for freshwater ecosystems.

For more information – www.

freshwaterrescueplan.org Seven steps of the Freshwater Rescue Plan: Prioritise the health of people and their waterways by setting strict and enforceable water quality standards, based on human and ecosystem health limits.

Withdraw all public subsidies of irrigation schemes, as they increase pressure on waterways.

Invest in an Agricultural Transition Fund, to support the country’s shift away from environmentallydamaging farming methods by redirecting $480 million of public money earmarked for irrigation.

Implement strategies to decrease cow numbers immediately.

Reduce freshwater contamination by instigating polluter pays systems nationally.

Address the performance of regional council’s on improving water quality through quarterly reports from the Ministry for the Environment on enforcement, breaches and monitoring.

Adopt OECD recommendation to establish a “whole-of-government, multi-stakeholder process to develop a long-term vision for the transition of New Zealand to a low-carbon, greener economy”.

14

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6lb - one of the nicest conditioned seen this winter

Can it get any better? With so many trout around an opportunity exists to upskill ones angling abilities – why not.

Try a lighter rod, Czech nymph, Wet line if you have never tried it.

Lighter gear is a lot of fun Czech or regular nymph fishing 4,5,6 weight rods you would be amazed at the difference with the lighter rods, smaller flies and indicators, unless of course you’re a meat hunter and vast numbers of trout are your bag why bother I guess, otherwise read on.

Reducing drag should be the objective, sub surface. There is a bal-

ance between heavy and very heavy nymphs; to heavy they won’t drift like a natural (of course if you’re fishing an area such as under the main road bridge at Turangi where the fish must run the gauntlet through a narrow channel) is not going to matter much, everywhere else it does matter.

Fly lines unless they are very thin (think SUNRAY), Leaders, Indicators all create drag mend as soon as they hit the water to break the surface tension, further mending will be easier if required.

Waxing on again? Euro (or Czech

nymphing) the fly line is zero weight, no indicator, flies are generally lightly dressed, with tungsten beads, leaders tapered unless your material is very thin, try HANAK fluoro. Because the line is more often than not elevated and held up with a longer more flexible rod, the “take” is felt immediately at the fly, all things being equal !. I have felt and missed very subtle takes with a hook up after several more casts.

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Visit us on www.facebook/Fishingandoutdoorsnewspaper “As all ecosystems are subject to variation and change, no particular instant in time can be caught and held as a frozen moment under some celestial bell jar.”

He wrote that it was “a quest for an ecological golden age, a conservation religion that is centred on a mythical green Avalon.”

Meanwhile trout have been in New Zealand for about 160 years, first liberated by the 19th century European colonists. Consequently trout have become established in virtually all river and lake systems. The length of existence in New Zealand is a point Tony Orman homes in on.

“Look this anti-trout hatred is codswallop. If trout were going to drive native species such as galaxids to extinction,

they would have logically done it within 50 years. But the reality is trout and native species have settled into an ecological equilibrium. Whitebait a species of galaxids were strongly abundant throughout the 20th century with trout in all the rivers - a century after the initial release of trout.”

Only in the last few decades have whitebait declined. Tony Orman says academics afflicted by “anti-exotica phobia” should have worked that logic out.

“The fact that they haven’t, is alarming.

Universities should be dealing in the real world not a fantasy mythical one.”

He said academics like Angus McIntosh should be concentrating on the depletion of aquifers and river flows by government driven policies aimed at creating lush dairy pastures

Didymo Dave THE NOCTURNAL FACTOR Stoats, weasels, rats etc are nocturnal by nature, which means they feed and move around at night while we are all tucked up in bed snoozing our heads off.

Sure people see the odd one around but not many. As an example my son and I have trapped 1000+ vermin out of the Hinemaiaia Stream Valley south of Taupo in yet between us we have only ever seen 2 stoats.

A classic example of this has been going on at Waitahanui on the banks of the Mangamutu Stream. A lady, Miss M was visiting her father and saw a rat on the property so together they set 5 bait stations. Now this property is small and kept really clean and

tidy. The owners have no pig dogs, compost bins nor are there any food scraps or anything like that. Two days later all the bait had gone and so Miss M rebaited the bait stations and as she was returning home contacted me to see if I could pop in and check them. That was Easter and would you believe the bait is still disappearing at an alarming rate months later, the net result being nearly 2 large buckets of bait have been eaten. FOR ONE RAT! Now obviously the numbers of vermin present which I strongly suspect were not residing on the property but on the banks of the Mangamutu Stream are far greater than the one rat that was seen. But what if Miss M had not seen the rat? The Mangamutu Stream

As an autonomous sovereign nation, the management of New Zealand’s fresh water fishery is the sole domain of the people of this country.

How we utilise it, share it, protect and develop it is our business. If (as seems to be the case) we feel disenfranchised and, that control of our fishery is slipping from our grasp, it should not only be accepted but also expected that we rectify matters.

We after all have the most to lose. Our perceived ideal of a good days fishing differs greatly from the guy who got off the plane last season and had a degree of success. By his standards NZ is still probably a smashing place full of huge trout and ample opportunity, free access and accommodation, cold beer and little angst. When he can no longer find fulfilment on our rivers he goes home lamenting the loss of a foreign treasure. If it ever gets to the stage we can no longer find fulfilment on our rivers something is very broken and a hugely rich asset of great cultural and historic value may have degraded to the point of no return. In this matter it is our perception that counts.

With government approving a distinction between residents and visitors, it is pertinent to solidify resident angling, as its own category. The current incumbent fisheries regulations are at present an adequate tool to manage resident anglers. We are not a perfect bunch and there is plenty of room for improvement in compliance and sustainability, however it would be reasonable to presume that New Zealanders should be the least and last affected by any innova-

tive fresh water fishery regulations.

The professional fishing guiding industry in NZ has developed quite of its own accord. To this day it has no licensing regime and is essentially unregulated.

Like most kiwi endeavours it has become a juggernaut that some time back claimed quite a dominant stake in what was intended to be a recreational pursuit.

General consensus within recreational angling circles suggests that the guiding fraternity is having a negative impact on both the resident angler and the fishery.

As a legal infrastructure was never created, the guiding world became self-regulating and the New Zealand Professional Fishing Guides association was formed.

Neither the Department of Conservation or Fish and Game New Zealand have managed to create any framework around commercial usage of the fishery.

DOC caved to pressure and issued a blanket concession for all NZPFGA members, essentially allowing up to 180 individual businesses to hide beneath one blunt management tool. This essentially gave the NZPFGA control of the commercial aspect of fishery management.

Without a doubt unrestricted tourist anglers are now affecting all three components above them on the totem pole.

Within a few short years New Zealand’s secret places were being broadcast across the angling planet and a whole new genus of angler headed this way armed with cameras, and

in low rainfall areas like Canterbury and the MacKenzie Basin instead of wrongly maligning established trout fisheries. Contamination of waterways by nitrates from farming as well as clear felling commercial forestry practices were a threat to the habit of both trout and native fish.

Trout are now an established sports fish with over 150,000 New Zealand anglers as well as a major tourist attraction for thousands of globetrotting fly fishers. The value of trout is estimated to be a multi-million economic resource by way of domestic and international tourism. *John McNab is a freelance roving journalist mainly domiciled in NZ’s South Island. and nearby wetlands are home to Grey Duck, Pukeko and other native birds. What chance did they have of breeding in among the population of vermin that was present?

So the first thing people who trap or use bait stations learn is that the numbers of vermin are far greater than most of us realise. If you have a farm, duckshooting spot, deer stalking hut or favourite trout fishing spot I’ll lay odds there are more vermin there than you realise.

Last month we advertised flies tied with Pukeko feathers that we were giving away to keep the Pukeko patterns alive. But I was so excited about some of the mischief I was getting up to I left the last number off my phone number. My apologies. The offer to place an order for Pukeko flies is still open.

Didymo Dave 027 240960

Kiwi PC ‘anti-exotic-phobia’ hooks Into trout Priceless recreational angling under threat

By John McNab

the-planet phobia against introduced species but it’s very selective and hypocritical and of course totally unrealistic,” he says.

Provoking the reaction was an article in the “NZ Geographic” accusing trout of decimating native galaxid fish. Angus McIntosh of Canterbury University in New Zealand’s South Island, said “introduced trout are Trout - deemed evil by New Zealand’s “antiexotica phobia” adherents. Tony Orman with a steadily killing off native fish.” brown trout from the South Island’s Pelorus River. But hypocrisy abounds when zealots cut loose, says Tony Orman.

New Zealand’s wave of “politi- “This introduced tag is simply name cal correctness” and in particu- calling but ignores that humans are lar hatred of exotic species has introduced to New Zealand, firstly the hooked into trout. It’s a bizarre Maori in the 14th century and Europeworld of “anti-exotic” phobia says ans in the 18th and 19th centuries and Tony Orman, a South Island con- they all introduced animals and plants, servationist, angler and author. the Maoris the kiore rat and dog and “New Zealand has this strange, off- Europeans sheep, cattle, deer, bumble

bees and of course salmon and trout.”

He says critics of “introduced” species consume meat from introduced poultry, farm stock and garden and encourage “introduced” plant species such as as “introduced” vegetables, pasture grasses and flowers and shrubs.

“Angus McIntosh is no exception.

That such anti-exotic P.C. nonsense comes from a university shows how entrenched the dogma is.”

Canterbury ecologist Rex Gibson of Christchurch was shocked by the attack on trout.

“As an Ecologist I am appalled by this amateurish article. The trout in the Canterbury rivers are themselves in rapid decline. This data is available from North Canterbury Fish and Game and is reflected in recent fishing licence changes. The decline in galaxiids is almost entirely due to other environmental limiting factors briefly referred to in the article; i.e. the consequences of land use intensification and modification (mostly for dairy) and significant wetland drainage,” he says. “The aquifer depletion through irrigation (water mining) and their replenishment have drained the streams and rivers referred to, resulting in major aquatic habitat loss.”

New Zealand conservationist author Bill Benfield in his book “The Third Wave” says the mantra “exotic bad, native good” has spread to much of the New Zealand public promoted by the rabid green group the Forest and Bird Society and the government’s Department of Conservation. The whole concept of evil introduced species is unrealistic.

videos, gleaning industry sponsorship on the way and returning with images of unparalleled angling splendour. Young anglers around the globe saw an avenue to not only fish the best, but also make money and enhance their industry status to boot.

All of this has happened under the nose of DOC and Tourism New Zealand as anglers filmed for hire and reward without concessions or work permits before slipping back home to watch the numbers go up in the home bank account, using huts like motel units, killing unsustainable numbers of fish to support long back country stays and many other sacrilegious behaviours that seem to have become the norm rather than the exception.

These latest waves of overseas anglers have most unfortunately swept up the previous more benign generation into an inseparable mass that can no longer be given carte blanche reign.

Possible restrictions to expedite could include : A substantial increase in Non-Resident angler licence differential, to match places with similar angling such as British Columbia and Alaska. : A maximum 14 – 21 day non-resident annual licence : Catch and release only for Non-resident anglers.

The above concepts are emotional, frustrating and sit uncomfortably with our national nature of sharing and openness.

We have big brave decisions to make if we intend to claim our fishery management back.

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SHOT Urges Hunters to ‘Quiz and Vote’

Laurie Collins - “I urge hunters to vote!”

The Sporting Hunters Outdoor Trust (SHOT) has urged the 100,000 plus

game and bird hunters to vote for sensible management and laws in the forthcoming September 23 general election.

“The party and candidates are beside the point,” says Laurie Collins convenor of SHOT. “What’s important is what the party and/ or your electorate candidates stand for as far as deer and game bird management, the environment and firearm laws go.”

He urged hunters to at the very least vote and better still, get out to elec-

tion meetings and quiz candidates or contact them individually.

Laurie Collins said with each election, issues became more vital and hunting freedoms were threatened.

He cited a recent Parliamentary Select Committee that recommended changes to firearm laws that would have penalised the hunting public but failed to address illegal ownership of firearms by the criminal element. Only the intervention of the deputy prime minister Paula Bennett prevented many of the ill-conceived changes being implemented.

“Therein lies the conundrum,” said Laurie Collins. “Paula Bennett who comes from an outdoors upbringing to her credit, stepped in and stopped the rot. But on the select committee were government MPs who backed stupid ideas.”

On that same select committee, NZ First members sensibly pulled out disgusted with the proposals which then let them speak out publicly, thus commendably alerting the hunting public.

Laurie Collins said other hunting issues had further aggravated the

public’s hunting scene. He cited Wild Animal Control Operations with helicopter operators indiscriminately slaughtering deer.

“That’s not game management when any and every deer is shot.

It shows cruelty in killing hinds with young fawns at foot, ignorance in shooting trophy stags and that DoC still has an antideer mentality in high quarters.”

Laurie Collins criticised the government formation of the Game Council which wedded by law to the Minister of Conservation be-

came a tool for the department and was rendered a “toothless tiger” by its obligations to the Minister and DoC. DoC’s “Battle of the Birds” with extensive 1080 drops to rid NZ of predators was an impossible dream, a waste of public money and environmentally irresponsible as 1080 was an ecosystem poison killing insects, birds and other life.

Foreign purchases of high country had accelerated and locked gates resulted in most cases, after purchases. Government moves at the behest of Federated Farm-

BREAKING NEWS!!

Teacher Arrested!!!!

A school teacher was arrested today at Auckland International airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement.

He did not identify the man, who has

been charged by the Police with carrying weapons of math instruction. ... Al-Gebra is a problem for us’, the Attorney General said. ‘They derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values.’ They use secret code names like “X” and “Y” and refer to themselves as “unknowns” but we have determined

ers to make Canada geese pests by law were spiteful and stupid he said. Geese could have remained as game birds with farmers given the right in conjunction with Fish and Game to take any harvesting measures deemed appropriate.

“I just urge hunters to make sure they vote and vote after deep consideration. It’s the legacy you’re leaving for your children and grandchildren too.”

that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country.

As the Greek philosopher Isosceles used to say, “There are 3 sides to every triangle.”

When asked to comment on the arrest, the Prime Minister said, “If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us more fingers and toes.”

The Prime Ministers office told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the Prime Minister.

BRAG PAGE Send your photos into mail@fishingoutdoors.co.nz

Joanne Warbrick celebrated her 40th birthday with a fishing trip on the Rubin Jack Joanne is the one kneeling in the middle and of course guess who caught the biggest fish.

A 65cm snapper is pretty good at this time of the year.

Thanks to our boat crew/skipper Jason and Chris and also owners of Coromandel Fishing Charters Tom and Lorraine

My twin sister and I's with a crayfish we caught recently on holiday for our birthday.

The water was too choppy for the boat so we did a few shore dives with good results.

The water was 14'C so a little chilly!

This is our 2nd time on the Nadgee for our MC Club Maunga Tihi from Turangi and it will not be our last.

Russ and Lori owners of the Nadgee Charters are an awesome couple!

Bounty Hunter competition

Firstly we would like to thank all of our sponsors who made it possible to give out some amazing prizes and it was great to see new and old faces in the competition.

Many thanks to all who entered, we hope you all enjoyed the competition and had a great weekend, despite the rough weather some of you keen anglers managed to weigh in some good fish!!!

There were some top fish weighed in for each category: Snapper: 9.330; Kingfish: 24.66; John Dory: 2.815; Piper: 0.155; Parore: 1.615; Trevally: 4.290; Kahawai: 2.460; Kayak: 6.620; Ladies: 20.50.

That wraps everything up for another year.

Winter fishing Coromandel With short days in full swing the fishing is still great around Coromandel.

This group of anglers had a ball recently out on the ‘Nadgee’ a 13 m Australian hardwood trawler which has been converted to a Charter Fishing Vessel.

With space for up to 15 passengers and 6 passenger berths for overnight trips, by prior arrangement, the Nadgee Charter Fishing is based around the Scenic Coromandel Islands, Mussel Farms, and Hauraki Gulf.

Contact Skipper Russell Chesnutt, Nadgee Fishing Charters on Phone 07 866 8172; Mob: 022 300 2201 or email chesnutt1957@ slingshot.co.nz Website: www.coromandelcharterfishing.co.nz

WHO CARES ABOUT THE FISHING AND HUNTING TOMORROW?

iT’S NOT JUST FOR YOUR SAKE BUT YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. But too many fishers and hunters don’t care or even vote!

THE CRISIS IS QUIET BUT URGENT! • 1080 that poisons everything from insects to birds to game animals is being dropped extensively under the guise of “Battle for the Birds”: • Foreigners are being allowed to buy up high country and bar your access • Canada geese demoted to “pest” status by law instead of game bird under law. What’s next?

• Government’s Game Animal Council has gagged hunters’ voice under state and DOC control - what’s the real agenda?

• Proposed select committee changes to Gun Laws would have restricted law-abiding public but failed to deal with illegal criminal owners. Stopped but the agenda is there.

. .. .. .

MAKE THE OUTDOORS AN ELECTION ISSUE YOUR PARTY VOTE IS VERY IMPORTANT!

YOU MUST VOTE FOR THE PARTY WITH THE BEST POLICIES! i

nserted by Laurie Collins, Convenor Sporting Hunters Outdoor Trust, 15 Greenfield St, Hector, West Coast

18

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Monster trout, mice and masts

By Rex N. Gibson

Over-fed predator

Mice from trout

We have all seen the pictures. Some amongst you have even caught trout with a stomach full of mice. Many people find this disconcerting, others find it fascinating. There is something about rodents that promotes strong responses. Maybe it’s even imprinted into our DNA, like the common human revulsion of snakes?

Everybody I meet has a favourite rat, or mouse, story to tell and seems to enjoy telling it.

A “mast year”, to a botanist comes from the old English word “maest”. The word means the accumulation of the nuts of forest trees that have accumulated on

bers, in particular, grow. Their increases are not as fast but are significant.

The problem comes later when the seed supply diminishes. Fewer mice survive, so the rats and stoats turn to other prey; frequently our smaller native birds and lizards are targeted. Well, that is the official line used to justify the bombardment of the forest with 1080 poison pellets.

Mice are natural swimmers. When the (human) population of Europe expanded in the 18th and 19th Centuries they sought new territories to hold their growing population. Mice follow parallel patterns.

Wild mouse

the ground. Various species, including the oak and beech, experience mast years. Their seeds are hard and the term hard mast is used. A variety of other plants produce soft masts. The mast years occur reasonably regularly.

In New Zealand the beech mast varies from every 3 to 5 years. Often this is determined by the climatic variations.

The mast usually refers to the edible vegetative or reproductive part produced by the tree.

Mice love the beech seed; and trout like mice. When mast years occur the mice have a surplus of food. The survival of their young thus increases dramatically and we soon have mice plagues.

On a fishing trip to the Lake Taylor region a couple of years ago our accommodation was literally overrun by these creatures. We caught more mice than fish that year.

In a mast year the simple population equation then takes over. Seeds increase so mice and rats increase. Their predators, hawks, owls, wild cats and mustelids, are also faced with a better food supply and thus the stoat’s num-

More mice from trout

When rodent numbers get too high they too seek new lands to colonise.

As with the European colonialists, this often involves crossing water.

The trout then become the great white sharks of the high country rivers and streams. They look up and see dinner crossing their watery path.

For a large trout an easily accessed food source like this is a chance to become a monster sized trout. We know the effect of too much access to fast food for humans, and with trout it has the same result.

Of all the species affected by mast years, mice are the greatest beneficiaries. I completed and published studies on feral mice many years ago. They were breeding when 42 days old. With an excess of food they often produce a litter of 10. Twenty four days later a female mouse could produce a second litter. The first litter were self-sufficient by then.

You are welcome to check my maths but I calculate that one pair of mice, and their subsequent descendants, can potentially produce 187,500 off-

spring in a six month summer period of unlimited food supply and nil predation. As the pressure on the food in their original territory increases so does the migration pressure, and thus the chance that the trout will be presented with an easy meal.

Rodents in the beech forests of New Zealand are not new. They came here with Maori, probably in the 13th Century. They became a significant food source in many areas, including the eastern sides of both Islands.

The Polynesian rat, Rattus exulans, is originally from the Southern China, Vietnam area, where many still live.

For millions of years it was a tropical species. When brought to New Zealand it survived, as many tropical species do, by storing excess amounts of body fat for insulation and as a winter food supply. This made it a great potential food source. It could be stored by cooking it and preserving it in its own fat; most easily in hollowed out kelp branches or “blades”.

Popular literature, and some scientific publications will tell you that Rattus exulans, or kiore, were replaced in the bush on the New Zealand mainland by the ship rat, Rattus rattus.

If you examine, however, the broad ecological niche that the kiore occupied in our native forest you will find that it is now occupied by the common mouse, Mus musculus.

The mouse plagues of modern times parallel the kiore plagues of the 19th Century. Try and Google the rat plagues of places like Nelson and Blenheim of c1885. The details listed in the records of the National Library of New Zealand state: “Living rats are sneaking in every corner, scuttling across every path:” “Fresh battalions take the place of those slaughtered. Young and succulent crops are so ravaged as to be unfit for and not worth the trouble of cutting and harvesting”.

One report speaks of the wave of rodents moving from Picton and Blenheim through the Wangamoa to Wakapuka, Nelson; from the Waimeas around Tasman Bay to Motueka, and on past Collingwood to Cape Farewell. They called them “fern rats”. They were, however, kiore responding to the mast years. The plagues occurred in many areas.

The kiore are 3-4 times the size of a mouse. It is theoretically possible that some of the first trout could have eaten their young, but the march of the mouse was fairly relentless in the 19th Century.

The first record of mice in New Zealand was on 25 February 1824. The flax-trading Brig, Elizabeth Henrietta, ran aground on Ruapuke Island in Foveaux Strait. The mice swarmed ashore much to the amusement of the residents who called these new creatures “Henriettas” for several generations to follow. Ruapuke Island was a key stronghold of Tuhawaiki, paramount chief of Ngai Tahu Whanui, but that’s another story.

No doubt there were numerous other subsequent accidental introductions. Their movement into the beech forests was easier when the bush covered much more of the land than it does today.

Fish and Game officer Zane Moss (Southland) was reported in 2015 as

Birds campaign.

They claim that 95% of the rodents and 85% of the stoats are killed in such campaigns.

They use aerial 1080 pellet drops, NZ rodents (Left to right); expanded trapNorway rat (swims and burrows), Ship rat (Climbs and “nests”), ping and poison Kiore , Mouse bait stations. saying that trout can increase in size The big quesby 20 – 30% when feeding on mice. tion is what is the collateral damRats and mice not only migrate across age from the 1080? Poisoning from water but also fall in when seeking 1080 is an incredibly cruel way to food, thus falling prey to waiting trout. die. Just check YouTube for some of He stated that the availability of mice the coverage of farm animals dying does not impact on trout numbers horribly from careless pellet drops; but was likely to change their feeding and the numerous examples of feral habits and distribution patterns. Such deer and pigs dying painfully that trout feed in the evening on swimming occur regularly in the news media. mice and rest and digest in the day. DOC’s own published works shows It is mast years, and consequent ro- huge kill rates of kea, rock hen, and dent and stoat population increases, many other species. Other reports that gave rise to DOC’s Battle For Our cover the subsequent losses of the

morepork owl, and many forest birds.

Mice breed very rapidly (as stated above) whereas many of the native species affected will produce only one or two offspring a year. In that time the 5% of mice that survived will be back to their original numbers; limited only by their food supply.

Nobody yet knows the effect on trout of eating 1080 affected mice, or other species, such as bullies and insects, which have ingested 1080.

The trout’s medium term health and survival is completely unknown.

Nor do our authorities know the effect on people who eat these trout.

Why does this form of “pest” control happen? Probably because it is a cheap way to show/produce large numbers of rodent carcasses; ignoring the reproductive potential of the rodent survivors.

Remember “You are what you eat”.

My fingers are crossed that the fishery will not suffer, but the scientist in me suspects otherwise.

Life and death in a Westland rainforest: Drought-hit mudfish give insight into surviving climate change a sufficiently large random disturbance event, Professor McIntosh says.

“While this might sound like good news, there are some important insights from the study for how populations are managed in the face of climate warming, which is expected to see the frequency of extreme events like this drought increase in New Zealand.

“The probability of populations persisting during drought consistently declined with the carrying capacity of the habitat, so anything that decreases carrying capacity will likely erode the capacity of vulnerable species to recover from extreme events,” he says.

Dr Richard White sets a mudfish trap in a South Westland rainforest tree tip-up pool.

(The fern-covered root wad of the fallen rimu tree that created the pool is visible behind.) “In the case of these mudfish, the biggest populations were living in The depression created by the fallen tree has filled with water. Although the pools are relatively deep pools in native fornot normally connected, brown mudfish are able to colonise them by travelling through est, so things that reduce the qualthe forest during high rainfall or through the moss and mud. Photo: Angus McIntosh/UC ity of that habitat, like logging or University of Canterbury research- Freshwater ecosystems expert UC Pro- drainage, would likely compromise ers studying Westland mudfish fessor Angus McIntosh, research team the resilience of the populations.” have witnessed a life and death leader and co-author of a 2016 paper struggle that sheds new light on on the subject – Drought survival is a It’s not surprising that Canterbury how species may survive extreme threshold function of habitat size and mudfish, living on the other side conditions, gaining the attention population density in a fish metapop- of the Alps, are critically endanof the Royal Society of London. ulation – says that, most importantly, gered, Professor McIntosh says.

Researchers at the UC’s School of Dr White’s research showed that larger “Moreover, part of the resilience of Biological Sciences have been study- mudfish populations actually recov- these forest-dwelling brown mudfish ing brown mudfish that, remark- ered reasonably well after the drought. populations came from the connecably, live in tree ‘tip-up’ pools in South “This allowed him to test a long- tions between pools; Richard reWestland rainforest. The mudfish standing theory relating to the corded mudfish travelling 120 metres colonise the water-filled depressions underlying ability of populations through the forest. This connection formed when rimu trees topple over. to withstand big disturbances, between populations allows larger To do this, the mudfish have devel- or extreme ‘random’ events, like populations to ‘rescue’ smaller ones, oped a significant tolerance to harsh this sudden West Coast drought.” and is very important for recovery. conditions, coping with frequent pool With population models, the UC re- Thus, processes that fragment the drying, low oxygen levels, high acid- searchers were able to show that, habitat and disrupt that movement ity and variable temperatures. The as expected, smaller pools with will reduce the resilience of vulnermudfish move through the forest fewer mudfish were least resilient to able populations to extreme events.” floor, likely at times of high rainfall, drought. However, in contrast to the Brown mudfish are listed as ‘At to find pools where they are able to theory, even the most extreme events Risk, Declining’ under the New Zeaescape competition from other fish. were not enough to drive the big- land Threat Classification System.

In the middle of the UC research team’s gest populations extinction. study, the West Coast was hit by a 1-in- to suggests 25-year drought. From February to This March 2013, it didn’t rain for six weeks that large popu– extremely rare on the South Island’s lations may be rainy West Coast. Because the pools more resilient to disturdried out for a long time, a large pro- natural portion of the brown mudfish died; bances than premore than 80 per cent in some pools. viously thought, the UC doctoral student Richard White whereas had individually marked mudfish in theory had sug48 forest pools so he could follow gested that even their movements and record deaths the largest popuand births very precisely. His study has lations would still just been published in the Proceed- be vulnerable to A brown mudfish (Neochanna apoda) from a South Westland tree ings of the Royal Society of London. extinction given tip-up pool. Photo: Angus McIntosh/UC

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Trout fishing on Mars

By Rex N. Gibson

I am, of course, playing with words. I am not “on another planet” (I hope). There are now little green men involved. The Managed Aquifer Recharge system (MARs) is an interesting, if belated, development in the water use dramas of this election year.

MARs trials are occurring in Hinds (Mid-Canterbury) and in Gisborne.

The Hinds experiment is due for its first year report. The Waimakariri Science Stakeholder Advisory Group recently ran a workshop, with Golder Associates (NZ) support for, presumably, its “stakeholders”.

MAR was described by them as a set of physical tools to proactively manage the replenishment of groundwater supplies. It appears to be based on the CAP Recharge Program in Arizona (note: Americans do not know the difference between a “program” and a “programme”).

The workshop notes state that MAR, plus irrigation and water races, balances out over allocation + abstraction to equal the difference between what they call “Natural Yield” and “Sustainable Yield”; i.e. to “offset mass balance changes”. See graph.

They are talking about abstraction of ground water for irrigation purposes. The Hinds/Valetta area draws its normal aquifer recharge from the Hinds, Rangitata and Ashburton rivers.

Their data shows that the depths, where local bores draw their water, have had gone from 15 m down to 22.8m (in drought seasons) when you compare the 1973 – 1996 period with the 1996 – 2016 period. For you “oldies” that is a 26 foot (50%) drop.

Their data also shows an increase in nitrate levels over the period 1990 – 2014 from 5 to 11 mg/L (a 120% increase) in the shallow groundwater.

This means that, at 11 mg/L, it has reached the drinking water maximum acceptable value. There was no mention of notifications to the public or to the health authorities.

Also recorded was that surface water drains have been above the guideline maximums (80% protection of aquatic diversity) most years since 2006. Deep water groundwater has been above the guide-

lines (90% protection of aquatic diversity) every year since 2005.

Under the heading “Hinds Mitigations – Community Solutions” they propose: Quantity Cap new groundwater allocations Review existing permits for actual usage Allow surface users to transfer to groundwater Initiate a MAR pilot Allowing surface users to transfer to groundwater would mean more “water mining”.

Quality Reduce nitrogen losses at farm level up to 36% by 2035 Restriction of ne ‘intensification’ of land use until target is reached (less than 6.9 mg/L) Initiate MAR pilot Waiting 18 years to see such a reduction seems a very long wait, especially where it relates to community health. It is also easy to be very sceptical when the words “up to” are used. To most of us that is not a target but advertising “spin”. It is unclear what the MAR pilots would achieve. They state that it would involve looking at nitrogen tracking, rural drinking water, and aquifer modelling and mapping. Would the pilots’ results simply be ignored?

There is also no recommendation on immediate mitigations given the current pollution levels.

These pilots would seek ECAN funding (thus money from ratepayers to corporate beneficiaries) and take a further 500 L/sec from the Rangitata. It’s a deceptive of saying 43.2 million litres per day! Is this part of the death of the Rangitata by a thousand cuts? The Hinds is already “dead” and the Ashburton River has more health warning signs than the Christchurch sewage ponds.

The operators feel that their work to date is going well. It is reportedly recharging 100 to 105 L/sec. They claim to have met groundwater quality (nitrogen levels) and quantity targets and produce graphs from several bores to support this, whilst acknowledging however that groundwater target improvements to surface drains have not been met.

Panekiri 2017

By Karen Austen

We set off on Friday for another weekend of goat culling, only this time we had to go the long way around, due to the road from Murapara through the Te Urewera’s being closed because of slips. Lucky

for all of us we live in a beautiful country so the drive is so worth it, the scenery is just stunning.

Saturday up at half 6, for breakfast at 7, then down to the woolshed to be allocated groups to head out to find and cull the mobs of goats.

They were certainly harder to find this year; not in the numbers that we have known from previous years. A mixed bag of weather Saturday ‐ Sun, Wind, Rain and Hail, but our group of 3 guns managed to shoot 30 goats, not bad for a day’s work and a great bit of exercise.

We had spotted about 3 other mobs and decided they were just a bit far away for today so we would come back tomorrow (Sunday) and have another go.

Back to the shearers quarters for a nice hot shower and a very tasty venison stew and bread and but-

Killing our rivers On TV1 breakfast July 21st there was a small documentary on the state of the NZ eels which are quite a hardy fish. So if they are disappearing fast then this shows the disgraceful state of our waterways.

Over the past ten years the size of trout and the numbers are so small and so few of them in the Waihou and Ohinemuri rivers, also the past two whitebait seasons have been shocking. Last season my mate and I were up the Ohinemuri white baiting near

the Puke bridge when we got covered in urea being spread by two helicopters over both sides of the river. They covered kilometres of river edges from the Kopu bridge up past Paeroa.

I rand Fish and Game and advised them what was happening. They told me they needed photos or videos showing the choppers and their rego numbers.

F and Game are aware and agree that urea takes all the oxygen out of the water.

They have started early this year before

How does MAR work? It uses a large infiltration basin which is filled from diverted river water. (See photo).

This water percolates down below this to the clean gravel layer. From here it flows sideways and then seeps through the silt layers into what is called the Regional Groundwater System. To most of us this is the vital aquifer region on which Canterbury depends. This is the layer where increasing nitrogen concentrations are causing general alarm.

Is MAR the saviour of the Canterbury water dilemma or is it just a clever way to increase the amount of water irrigators can waste by irrigation spraying at times, such as in 30 degree nor’ westers, when logic tells everybody else that it is unsustainable? The Canterbury Plains would need a plethora of such infiltration basins and water races right across their area. Each one can probably only serve a few hundred hectares.

The Plains have more separate aquifers than Imelda Marcos had shoes.

The effect on the already declining river volumes would probably be terminal, as the greatest irrigation demand, and thus recharge need, coincides with the low flows of summer and autumn. The river beds often become dust bowls at these times. The argument that they could be filled during flood events has one major fish hook; floods are needed to both flush the river and keep the gravel moving out to sea. The beds of our braided rivers are experiencing a significant build-up of gravel as a result of years of low flows. Only the stop banks are currently keeping floods within limits, leaving us with the dilemma of river beds that now sit equal to, or higher than, the surrounding land in some locations.

Is MAR a solution to our water woes, or another nail in the coffin for Canterbury’s rivers? Is it a good pilot for the rest of “irrigated New Zealand”? It is easy to conclude that it lacks the hard evidence to be considered as a remediation strategy; rather it comes across as either an attempt to counter the barrage of criticism that dairying and water management are currently facing, or yet another“water grab”. ter pudding and an early night ready to start again the next day.

Up again at the same time but this time to a much colder start, and we enlisted the help of Andrew, Mark, Ed and CJ and we were off to find the 3 mobs we left yesterday. And sure enough there they were soaking up the sun, so the group spread themselves nicely across the slope and starting to shoot, within the next half hour or so we had managedtocullanother60oddgoats.

It was great to see a few new faces and to catch up with the regulars, we had a mixed age group of hunters from 11 to 80, well done everyone, those hills are not like a walk in the park.

Thanks again to Mark and Gaylene for allowing us to come down and have this great opportunity to sharpen up our skills and fitness.

Thanks to Maureen for organising the trip and to Brian and Maureen for your experience and time.

Another great weekend!

the white baiters get onto the rivers.

Couple this urea with 1080 it’s a wonder anything lives in our rivers and lakes.

This is just one small example in one area as to what’s going on around NZ and the government or farmers don’t care about the damage they are doing.

Lastly there is a massive freshwater shortage throughout the world and NZ probably has plenty of the best available yet the idiots in our councils and government want to give it away.

We should be charging these companies for every litre leaving our shores Dick Featherstone Thames

MAR the theory

MAR Hinds/Valletta pond

New Zealand First Fisheries Policy Overview New Zealand First Fisheries Policy has been updated ahead of the election in September, and will be released shortly.

Our 2014 policy was crafted in close consultation with the Recreational fishing sector. Our 2017 policy is largely unchanged, but has been refined and expanded following submissions from some sections of the commercial fishing industry.

In 2014 we stressed that fairness to all stakeholders was a must in the application of any policy regarding the fishery. Paua and lobster fishers rightly pointed out to us that their fisheries could not exist outside what we had generally proposed as a recreational-only inshore fishery, and we have expanded that proposal to accommodate this reality.

In addition, our updated policy recognises that the fishery is a finite resource that is subject to an increasing demand, as the population of New Zealand and the world continues to grow. One of the repercussions of this is that aquaculture and fish farming will also continue to expand, and much if not all of this activity will, of necessity, also have to occur within the inshore, until such time as the advance of technology allows for fish farming further offshore.

The new policy reaffirms that the delineation of the recreational-only inshore fishery, whilst retaining the 12-mile limit as a default goal, will be determined regionally in consultation with all stakeholders. Ongoing mutual distrust and animosity between commercial and recreational fishers is not sustainable. Both sectors must realise that as both population growth, and demand for food, continues to increase, so individual shares, even

when access to the inshore is prioritised for recreational fishers, will of necessity have to reduce over time.

In some areas the distance limit of the inshore fishery may vary, or be replaced with a given depth limit.

There may also be seasonal variations. However it is imperative that such determinations are reached by consensus and that all stakeholders accept the need for fairness.

Some of the key changes in the 2017 policy include the removal of a maximum fish size limit. This change has been made after submitters advised that such a restriction would make fishing competitions untenable.

Significantly New Zealand First is reiterating our intention to move the commercial fishing sector towards becoming a wholly New Zealandowned industry. The reflagging of Foreign Charter Vessels has been a welcome step in terms of improving pay and conditions for crews on foreign-owned boats working in New Zealand waters, but the FCVs themselves were only ever intended to be a short-term measure to enable minimally-resourced quota holders to access their catch entitlement.

However FCVs have become a fixture of the commercial sector, reducing opportunities for New Zealand workers and limiting returns for quota holders.

Within the same environment, smaller and family-owned commercial fishing operations are increasingly dependent on leased quota or contract fishing on behalf of larger quota holders.

New Zealand First in Government will require

quota holders to either fish their own quota, or relinquish it. We will ensure that economic, regulatory, and business support settings enable fishers to acquire the vessels and technology necessary for such access, regardless of the scale of their operations.

Underpinning this policy and the revisions that have been made to it is New Zealand First’s call for a full Commission of Inquiry into the totality of fisheries management. The QMS has now been in place for thirty years, and whilst it was rightly regarded as world-leading when it was instituted, and has worked well in some regards, the QMS is now in need of a full review and overhaul. Indeed some of the issues that have plagued the commercial fishing industry in particular in recent years can be attributed directly to unintended consequences created by the QMS itself. Dumping and highgrading are two contentious practices for which the Deemed Value provisions of the QMS can be rightly blamed.

New Zealand First believes commercial fishers should be assisted and encouraged to minimise by-catch, but not unfairly penalised for outcomes that are beyond their control, especially when attempts to avoid such penalties directly contribute to the continuation of practices leading to the very same undesirable outcomes that the QMS is supposed to prevent.

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Fussy fish use genetic compatibility The Battle to Protect our Public to pick partners from afar When salmon spawn, the sperm of competing males are in an allor-nothing race to be the first to reach and fertilise the eggs.

New findings by University of Otago researchers show that female salmon influence the race results from afar and that there is a strong genetic basis to that female choice.

Professor Neil Gemmell, who holds the AgResearch Chair in Reproduction and Genomics in the Department of Anatomy, says that the ovarian fluid that females release with their eggs can help or hinder sperm swiftness, depending on the male it comes from.

“The findings may also have implications for the understanding of animal, even human, reproduction,” he says.

The study has been published this week in the international journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B. Professor Gemmell’s PhD student, Cornelia Gessner, together with colleagues from AgResearch and NIWA, examined the swimming speeds of salmon sperm in the diluted ovarian fluids of females and related this to reproductive success and the level of genetic relatedness at several thousand genes.

Surprisingly the research team found that males that were more similar to the female at a few key genes, perhaps even close relatives to the females, had a higher rate of reproductive success than males who were more dissimilar.

“Our recent work has shown that this ‘cryptic female choice’ (CFC) has a strong effect on offspring survival,” he says. “In this latest paper we have identified key genetic components that seem to be responsible for governing this process.”

Cryptic female choice involves female attempts to control who fertilises their eggs after mating. It is known to

occur in many species but, until now, only in ones which fertilise internally.

“In internal fertilisers there are multiple ways a female can exert this post-mating version of sexual selection by favouring one male’s sperm over another to bias fertilisation, including differential storage, usage and ejection of sperm.

“A classic example is found in chickens, where females can favour one male over another through ejecting the sperm of less favoured males,” Professor Gemmell says.

“We were startled to find that female salmon are also able to exert this kind of influence. Previously, it had been thought that once their eggs had been released females had very little say over which of the males around her would fertilise them.

“That is clearly not the case. There is a strong post-mating choice exerted, which affects offspring survival, and there is a genetic basis that affects this choice.

“We found that the speed of a male’s sperm varied significantly, according to which female’s ovarian fluid it was swimming in, and that the degree of genetic relatedness between females and males strongly influences sperm swimming speed and fertilisation outcomes.

“We found five regions in the salmon genome, each containing a few genes, that appear to bias fertilisation outcomes by influencing how fast a male’s sperm swims in a given female’s ovarian fluid and that affect fertilisation outcomes via other mechanisms, likely spermegg interactions. Two of the genes identified affect fertility in humans and are promising candidates through which CFC may operate.”

For example, a particular male’s sperm was among the fastest in one set of fluid but, in another set, it trailed

the field. In this latter set, a different male’s sperm was able to swim twice as fast as it had in another, he says.

The reason why female salmon try to swing the odds for some sperm over others appears to be focused on ensuring that their mates have complimentary genes that enhance offspring survival.

“From the female’s perspective, it makes sense that when you only have one opportunity to reproduce in your life, you want to make sure you get it right.

“For the males, you could say that the upshot is that there may be someone for everyone in the salmon world – the race does not always go to the naturally fastest runner, as females ensure that the conditions on the racecourse differ.

“Put another way, what we have found is that only some males have the right genetic passwords that enable their sperm to fertilise the eggs of a given female.”

Professor Gemmell says the findings also may have wider implications for the understanding of animal, or even human, reproduction.

“For instance, whatever it is in this ovarian fluid that is enhancing or retarding sperm function may have a similar effect on sperm in other species.

The recognition that some of the genes that control this effect in salmon are also present in humans, and linked to infertility in humans, strongly suggests that there may be elements of cryptic female choice post-mating in humans.”

Professor Gemmell plans to continue to investigate the genes involved in this phenomenon using increasingly refined approaches, while also beginning to explore if similar mechanisms might exist in humans and species of agricultural importance.

Rivers for Recreation Intensifies.

More and more public waterways are succumbing to over-extraction, pollution and degradation. The NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers (Inc) a national organisation for anglers and angling clubs says that its members are reporting the loss of recreational opportunities from all over the country. Whether it is from siltation from inappropriate and intensive agriculture or forestry harvesting, loss of biodiversity and fish migration from dams, toxic algal blooms due to nitrogen leaching, straightening and denatur-

ing the beds of waterways by Councils in the name of flow management, excessive temperatures due to the removal of shade trees along riparian banks, or depletion of flows due to excessive extraction for agriculture (increasingly to the point where natural flows stop altogether); the result is the same – the inability of the public to enjoy recreation in their own rivers.

Other rivers have been lost such as the Irwell near to the Selwyn River.

The rivers’ water has gone to government’s insatiable appetite for

Trappings of Success

It was 2014 and Hamilton industrial electrician Kevin Bain was out tramping in the bush, something he enjoyed regularly. At the side of the track was a pest trap. “I poked my head in and noticed there was no bait. The trap had been triggered but there was nothing in it.”

Bain was aware of the problem pests posed to native New Zealand wildlife, and the headache they caused landowners and conservationists. “Around that same time I had read an article where the Department of Conservation (DOC) had trialled some automatic traps and it wasn’t a glowing report.

I thought, I can do better than that.”

Bain could see existing pest traps weren’t working well, and saw the need for something better.

With his background as an industrial electrician, and his natural curiosity and love for tinkering, he got to work in his home workshop.

“I like making things work, and work better,” says Bain.

Over the course of about 18 months Bain worked on modifying a standard spring-loaded trap (DOC200, used to kill rats and stoats) into a self-resetting pest trap. He later adapted the same reset and release mechanism to the CMI Trapinator (used to kill possums).

Adding this automatic reset and release mechanism to these standard single-set traps made them not only more effective at killing multiple pests but smarter and easier to use.

“A few early versions of the trap were not reliable, but finally, after a year or more I came up with a design that was reliable, simple and it worked,” says Bain. “Testing was very important, and I did a lot of

more and more corporate dairying. Government wants to grow corporate dairying and take more of the public’s river water.

It doesn’t have to be like this, which is why the NZFFA has joined with numerous other organisations to promote a plan to fix it. See: https://www.freshwaterrescueplan. org/ But will politicians listen?

Water is an election issue!

This election, give your party vote to somebody who will fix this, not someone who caused it. it to ensure the reset and release mechanism was going to be reliable.”

His design was unique – with a battery-powered reset and a springloaded kill bar. Once triggered, the cam automatically rotated, pulling the bar back to its set position. As the bar lifted the dead pest would fall to the ground. After being triggered, or at the start of every evening, each trap automatically rebaited, ready for the next forest invader.

Unlike most other traps, Bain’s trap had the ability to kill multiple pests: rats, mice, stoats and possums – an advantage as people would not need to purchase multiple traps to target different pests.

Bains says his traps are extremely reliable and have longevity. Each trap can continue operating, unchecked, for 12 months or more, and will be able to catch an estimated 100 predators without intervention. This is an advantage in remote bush or farming areas, where traps are not regularly checked and emptied. “With a traditional trap you have to revisit it and clean out the dirty old rat or possum that has been there for a few weeks, but our trap you only have to visit yearly,” says Bain.

Seven steps of the Freshwater Rescue Plan 1. Prioritise the health of people, and their waterways by setting strict and enforceable water quality standards, based on human and ecosystem health limits.

2. Withdraw all public subsidies of irrigation schemes, as they increase pressure on waterways.

3. Invest in an Agricultural Transition Fund, to support the country's shift away from environmentally-damaging farming methods by redirecting $480 million of public money earmarked for irrigation.

4. Implement strategies to decrease cow numbers immediately. immediatel 5. Reduce freshwater contamination by instigating polluter pays systems nationally.

6. Address the performance of regional council’s on improving water quality through quarterly reports from the Ministry for the Environment on enforcement, breaches and monitoring.

7. Adopt OECD recommendation to establish a whole-of-government, multi-stakeholder process to develop a long-term vision for the transition of New Zealand to a low-carbon, greener economy.

The Freshwater Rescue Plan presents 7 steps the NZ Government can take immediately if it is serious about protecting & restoring our waterways. www.freshwaterrescueplan.org

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NZ Seafood advertising response Dear Sir Fact, the seafood industry will always give a positive answer to a negative question as part of their PR and marketing. Environmentalists ask questions the industry gives a positive answer and the problem stays the same.

Mussel Industry Q. There are thousands of tons of mussel farm waste washing up on our beaches, what do you intend to do about it?

A. We employ thousands of people and our growing export market is vital to the NZ economy and recreational fishers enjoy fishing in our farms.

Salmon Industry Q. There is a high level of pollutant under your Salmon farms that is spreading toxins around

the waters of the Sounds, what are you intending to do?

A. We are a vital export industry and an employer of thousands of people as well as supply NZ with affordable Salmon product in supermarkets.

Scallops in the coastal areas of NZ. What do you intend to do about it?

A. We are an export industry that employs a few people that considers itself to be important to ourselves the people who make money from it.

Fin Fishing Industry Q. Recreational and Customary fishers around NZ have expressed concern over the declining fish stock available in the inshore fishery, what does the industry intend to do to change this?

A. We are an export industry vital to the economy of NZ. We employ thousands of people as well as supply fresh wet fish to NZ supermarkets.

The seafood industry has embarked on a massive three-year PR campaign that will ultimately fix not one of the industry’s problems.

This campaign is only designed to distract the recreational lobby groups and change the public perspective of the industry while the seafood industry sets about exporting the recreational fish. Most of the seafood corporate managers work under the same strategies as John Key. Make as much money as you can while you can because when it all turns to custard.

Shellfish Industry Q. Recreational fishers and divers have expressed concern over the over exploitation by commercial fishers of stocks of Paua, Cray and

Conservation Minister Likes Mass Killing Wildlife

by Dick Featherstone

Minister of Conservation Maggie Barry has come in for a double barreled blast from a NZ conservation and outdoor figure over her recent comments to visiting UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson had an eventful visit to Wellington’s Zealandia wildlife sanctuary.

The two politicians discussed New Zealand’s campaign to become predator-free by 2050. Boris Johnson said he was sure the slaughter was done in “an entirely humane and dignified way, and they die with a smile on their faces, and I congratulate you on that.”

Maggie Barry replied “If you have a problem with your grey squirrels just let DoC know.

We can come and help out.”

“You’ll come and programme a painless extermination,” Johnson replied.

“Fishing and Outdoors” referred Minister Barry’s comments to outdoors author Tony Orman who said Maggie Barry seemingly delighted in mass killing wildlife.

BEES & LEAD Dear Sir Throughout New Zealand and the world bees have had a historical association with shooting ranges; largely because the majority of ranges are rural, are used intermittently and invariably the hives are reading accessible.

There are several examples of this in the Wairarapa and in numerous rural areas throughout the country.

There is no record of lead shot having any impact of the life of bees – or on the honey quality.

Regarding lead shot and water-

“Is the Minister ignorant or stupid or just obsessed?” he asked. “Death by 1080 is painful, torturous and slow.”

Death from 1080 is cruel and protracted with death resulting from heart or respiratory failure.

Clinical signs of poisoning include rapid and laboured breathing, tremors and muscle spasms, terminal convulsions and death.

It usually takes possums between 6-18 hours or more to die.

Tony Orman said the minister’s offer to Boris Johnson that DOC could if UK had a problem with grey squirrels “help out” presumably with 1080, was pathetic and disgraceful.

Government’s plan to make NZ predator free by 2050 was a waste of public money and by use of 1080 and brodifacoum was making the public’s lands and wilderness an ecological desert.

“1080 and brodifacoum are not just pest poisons. They’re ecosystem poisons. 1080 was developed as an insecticide but

then - ooops - it was found to kill anything and everything that breathes - insects, birds, any invertebrates, animals and so on.”

With Minister for the Environment Nick Smith’s evangelical rhetoric about imagined pests of “biblical proportions” and now Maggie Barry’s ignorant and stupid remarks to the British home secretary, NZ’s government was clearly “hellbent on a destructive, deranged course” with the environment.

“I’m a swinging voter from election to election but this nonsense has made up my mind not to vote for the government or its support parties ACT or United Future parties.”

When pressed for comment on his voting preference, Tony Orman said of existing parties in Parliament only NZ First was opposed to aerial 1080.

“So it’s NZ First or parties not in Parliament like the Outdoors or Ban 1080. Voters have to work out where their vote would be the most effective,” he replied.

fowl; in the late 1990’s Sandra Lee, the then Minister of Conservation, forced the NZ Fish & Game Council to ban the use of lead shot for duck, swan and goose hunting – stating in no uncertain terms; that if they refused she would introduce legislation that would force them to do it!

NZ Fish & Game followed her order and banned the use of lead shot, but in 12 gauge shoguns only!

Such a political philosophy goes right back to the 1950’s and not long after the United Nations was created.

It is a philosophy that has absolutely nothing to do with the welfare of waterfowl, because no species of

wild waterfowl has ever been known to die from ingesting lead shot, but has everything to do with restricting private ownership of firearms.

More recently and under the joint direction of the Ministers’ of Conservation and the Environment the NZ Fish & Game Council has banned the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting in all gauges – except 410 – thus destroying over 200-years of New Zealand history and, at the same time, eliminating a valuable part of our tourist industry!

Neil Hayes QSM CARTERTON

Where have all the rivers gone?

By Rex N. Gibson

QSM M.Sc. (Distinction), Dip.Ed. Man., Dip.Tch.Has Local newspapers have been covering stories of Canterbury Rivers that have or are soon to, disappear.

I have driven on a mid-Canterbury roads and seen many cases of farm paddock irrigators “washing” the roads.

Recent Council meetings set up an “ECO Hub” of the region’s environmental groups. Freshwater issues have been a significant part of the discussions at

these meetings.

The “Eco” community has become very concerned about Canterbury’s disappearing and drying rivers.

The number of rivers we have lost, in Canterbury, is rarely appreciated by the general public. Fishermen know; because their Canterbury lowland fishery has virtually disappeared.

When the rivers dry up, even if only for a few weeks, or even days, the key fauna and flora die. The macro flora, in particular, is the anchor on which most visible river-based life forms exist.

Every river lost is a recreational site

lost. My generation were fortunate enough to be able to kayak, float on tyre tubes, sail boats in the shallows, fossick for blackberries and mushrooms, find lizards, check out the river’s bigger invertebrates, etc., whilst our “elders” fished. Those Canterbury Rivers were even “swimmable”. Today’s children are denied that.

Many lowland Canterbury river beds are now just bare gravel, even when water is flowing. This makes them inhospitable for cockabullies’, trout, eels, whitebait, koura and a variety of other native fish. Despite the antitrout propaganda of some “conservationists” the young trout, etc., are important food sources for eels, wading birds and cormorants (shags).

I recall the words of the Spiritual Leader of the Native American Winnemem Wintu people, Caleen Sisk-Franco. In their pilgrimage to Canterbury in 2010, to visit the New Zealand salmon in the Rakaia River, she stated that the salmon [& trout] were the “canaries in the mine equivalent” in determining the health of a

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either been destroyed or are under imminent threat on the Canterbury Plains. These low water flows result in elevated river water temperatures which create inhospitable environments for most freshwater organisms. Trout, and many other species, normally die if the water temperature exceeds 20 degrees. The smaller the body of water, the more it heats up.

Biodiversity has given way to the monocultures in a massive and deadly way.

Irrigation in Canterbury is not new.

It was always considered necessary to make better use of the land for crop and wool production, but river. Her delegation were here to see, ing water during a restricted period. the price, since industrial dairyand apologise to, the offspring of the Clearly the monitoring body, ECAN, ing moved in, has been far greater salmon that once ruled their way of was a “toothless tiger” in this role. than it needs to be. The social and life on the McLeod River in California; In addition to water abstraction, environmental effects will be inherthe source of our Canterbury salmon many agricultural discharges were ited by our children and their chilstocks. It was an emotional event. recorded. One consent holder, of the dren. The cost of habitat restoration Damming of the McLeod River, 24,000, in every eleven, was found in the future will be “astronomical”. and irrigation off-takes, had de- to be significantly non-compliant. The Canterbury situation is not stroyed the parent salmon popu- Discharge of (mainly) dairy efflu- unique; so why have we not learnt? lation last century. Only their de- ent into waterways further com- The Colorado River, once capable of scendants in Canterbury survive. pounds the lack of healthy freshwa- cutting out the Grand Canyon, failed Abstraction is not always directly from ter ecosystems in the Canterbury to reach the sea for 20 years bethe rivers in most cases, although the Plains. It was the stimulus for Fish cause of excessive irrigation draw off.

Rangitata Diversion Race, and similar and Games’ widely reported “Dirty Drained aquifers have led to ground schemes from other Canterbury rivers dairying” campaign a decade ago. collapses across the mid-west of the sourced in the Southern Alps, take the The regional council (ECAN) moni- USA and no new federal funded irriequivalent of the normal flow of the tored only 16% of the consents in gation projects were approved there Waimakariri or Rangitata rivers. The re- 2016. About 40% of these were from the 1970’s into this century. moval of water from aquifers which are monitored by a site visit. This means The mentality that any water which maintained by the lowland rivers, for that only 7% of all consents were flows into the sea is wasted seems irrigation, automatically triggers aq- checked in person! An ECAN spokes- to dominate the current headlong uifer replenishment from those rivers. person described them as “higher- rush to spray it irresponsibly over We are “water mining” the shallow aq- risk consent holders”, enough said. the land and into the atmosphere. uifers of the plains. The deeper cold I have been around long enough to This attitude ignores all the basic valwater from the Southern Alps is una- remember which lowland Canterbury ues of biodiversity, understanding ble to move upward quick enough and Rivers were once fishable and swimma- of the dynamics of freshwater (and they are replenished with the warmer ble, many up until the 1990s, but today soil) ecosystems, and the concept river water. Therein lies another area of only grow land weeds or toxic algae. that the water belongs to all of us. concern for the health of our soil eco- Those listed below either dry up for Irrigation practices currently used in systems to be explored at a later date. part of the year, thus killing their fauna the dry land dairying on the CanterThe USGS (US Government Depart- and flora, or drop so low that their bury Plains are incredibly inefficient ment of the Interior) Water Science pools become eutrophic, resulting in uses of this resource. Mid-Canterbury School has done considerable work toxic algal blooms in the summer and people got very upset when a bottling on the effectiveness of irrigation autumn. All have been fishable and plant wanted to export “their water” schemes, and estimates that an av- swimmable in the past. The river flow to China and elsewhere. That plant erage of 35% of irrigated water is figures are in cubic metres per second. would have used only the equivalent lost to evaporation. In Canterbury I have allowed for the doubling up of one dairy farm! Where did they the rain shadow effect, foehn winds of the Ashburton tributaries figures. think the dairy products go? And how (especially in El Nino years), and its The minimum figure should be in much water does local dairying use? geography, means that the Can- the 110 – 150m3/sec range to allow Do they have a patch over one eye? terbury evaporation loss is highly healthy river ecosystems to survive. The Waiology/Sciblogs website likely to be well above average. The Only about 18 bath tubs full, per (Royal Society of New Zealand) higher the water pressure the second, are thus flowing across states that New Zealand irrigators higher the rate of evaporation, all of the Canterbury Plains in the use 4,707,000,000 cubic metres of with the water cannon type irri- lowland rivers. How many fish, fresh water each year, or 13 milgators being the worst offenders. or swimmers, can that cater for? lion cubic metres per day. That is Corporate “industrial” intensified dair- That cumulative total is almost the 44% of all of the country’s total ying has seen the demise of both the same as the normal summer flow of consumptive uses; 68% of all wafamily farm and the lowland rivers. each of the: Ahuriri (McKenzie Coun- ter allocations are in Canterbury.

The ownership of the health of water- try), Lower Wairau (Marlborough), or Waiology quotes AgResearch who ways now lies with corporate inves- the Mararoa (Southland) rivers. It is determined that, in Canterbury, one tors often living in remote locations. only 25% of the regular flow of the litre of milk (1kg of milk)) requires In 2016 the Stuff website ran the head- Rangitata or the Waimakariri, or just 1,084 litres of water; the rest (1,083L) line “Irrigators are Canterbury’s biggest 50% of the summer flow of the Hu- being “lost” or “used” in plant and rule-breakers”. Using ECAN’s own data runui or the Mataura rivers. All those animal respiration and growth, etc. they found that nearly 20% of all irriga- rivers are sourced back in the South- They use the measure called Fat & tion consent holders with permission ern Alps. This river water depletion Protein Corrected Milk (FPCM) which to take water, were significantly break- is not just a 2017 event. El Nino is equates one kg of FPCM with one litre. ing the rules. Hundreds were caught just a “blip” in the trend. It has been I spoke recently to an educator who breaking these rules! Many were happening for a couple of decades. works across 20+ schools in North either taking too much water, or tak- Whole freshwater ecosystems have Canterbury with the salmon in schools programme.

He works with Canterbury Plain’s “Lost” Lowland Fishing Rivers (Rivers from Hurunui to Waitaki – Figures from ECAN’s website) children from year 2 through (current mean flow, Notes 21 Feb’17, in m3/s) Name to year 13. He stated all pupils, 0.16 Dry at SH1 Waipara

even the six year Ashley (SH1) n.a.

Regularly dry below Rangiora olds, understood 0.4 Primarily now a straight drain Cust the meaning of Halswell 0.3 severe silt loading “sustainability”.

0.003 eutrophic Selwyn (Coes’) It appears it is Hororata 0.17 dry below the township the decision 0 grossly over consented Hawkins making generaOkuku n.a. toxic algae tion that ignores Irwell 0 former major spawning stream this concept.

0.4 Ashburton tributary Pudding Hill Canterbury’s Bowyers Stream 0.6 Ashburton tributary fresh water man0.7 Ashburton tributary Taylors agers sadly and South Branch 5.7 Ashburton tributary urgently need to adopt the Ashburton (SH1) 4.1 (pollution notice in place) same Mission 0 (no fish thanks to Nitrate levels.

Hinds (SH1) Statement as Te Orari 2.7 Dry in January Runanga O Ngai 0.18 Temuka tributary Waihi Tahu: Mo tatou, a, Kakahu 0.03 Hae Hae Te Moana tributary mo ka uri ka muri 0.14 Waihi tributary Hae Hae Te Moana ake nei, “For us Temuka 1.8 and our children Ohapi 0.9 former classic trout stream after us”. Like the 3.3 9.2 cum/s where it emerges from foothills Opihi (SH1) Winnemem WinTe Ngawai (Cave) 0.4 Esti 0.1 at confluence with Opihi tu did in 2010, 1.0 Supplies much of Timaru’s domestic water Pareora (Huts) we should collecOtaio 0.2 No visible flow at SH1 tively be apolo0 Makikihi (SH1) gising to CanterWaihao 0.6 Estuary supplemented from Waitaki irrigation bury’s lowland rivers and their The TOTAL current flow of these 26 lowland rivers in February 2017 is thus only 18.1 cubic metres per second at fish for condonthe measuring points (one m3/s is about a bathtub full). ing their demise.

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WHY MPI MUST GO This National-led Government has lost any last shred of credibility and the Ministry of Primary Industry any last pretence of political neutrality with the publication of the June 2017 Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries.

Under the smoke-screen of increases in primary sector exports in some sectors MPI attempts to hide its failure to meet productivity targets. These targets were set by the Government when MPI was established with much fanfare in 2012. MPI’s task was to oversee the Government’s flagship policy of doubling the value of primary industry exports by 2025. To achieve this, primary industry needed an average value growth rate of 5.5% per annum.

According to the National Business Review, there was a nominal 3.3% average increase in the value of exports between 2012 and 2016. This meant that achieving the 2025 goal required an average increase in export value of 9.5% per annum per year from 2016. MPI is predicting that primary sector exports will grow only 3 percent for the June 2017 year.

This failure of this policy lies in the unfounded belief by all governments since the 1980’ Lange/ Douglas Government in the inevitability of international free-trade in primary produce. In the last three years, as Winston Peter’s tirelessly reminds us, this belief has resulted in off shore sales of productive land and offshore ownership of processing capacity such as dairy factories at levels never seen previously. Surely even the most dyed in the wool Act Party, National Party, and Labour Party advocates of free trade, and maybe even Bob Jones himself, must finally acknowledge that the ideal of international free trade in primary produce has been finally and comprehensively Brexited and Trumped?

Why does this Government’s goal

of increasing the value of exports increasingly appear unachievable?

Tax-payer funded research needed to deliver the policy targets was given to the wrong people. MPI Primary Production Partnerships mostly funded research by the current big processors of commodity products. These processors (dairy, fisheries and forestry) have huge amounts of capital invested in commodity production. The substantial costs of developing new added-value processing technologies and markets make little sense in a booming commodity market.

When commodity markets crash (think milk powder) financial assistance to shareholders rightly takes priority and shareholders themselves become increasingly resistance to change. History shows that innovative added-value products and more environmentally friendly technologies come from new players without existing capital commitment to current technology or commodity products. That may well be owners of Maori-land interested in exporting and looking at developing processing capacity.

Right from the beginning neither MPI nor existing large primary producers and processors were ever fully committed to the Government added-value policy. With the Government they believed, incorrectly as it has turned out, that free-trade would give them the necessary leg-up to double the value of exports by 2025.

If free-trade is not going to bring home the bacon for NZ Inc., how can farmers or fishers achieve productivity increases averaging 5.5% per annum? Surely by now it is clear beyond reasonable doubt that intensifying current practises in dairy farming, fishing and forestry damages soil, streams, rivers, lakes and fisheries?

In the current toxic MMP environment politics and elections are dominated by parties not policies

Debate on critical economic and environmental issues is shut down.

A new Government could do a lot worse than quietly abandon the failed mantra of free-trade, and listen to the newly acquired pragmatism of the Federated Farmers.

Their advocacy of a NZ economic future built on politicians reengaging the ingenuity, innovation and pragmatism of farmers and scientists to capitalise on the productivity of the land-water interface is a breath of fresh air.

Government policy has increasingly forced farmers to put economics first. When the price of milk powder was high, Queen St farmers chased marginal returns for capital gain. Large dairy herds were run on highly porous central North Island soils. In the South Island large dairy farms were run on soils that could only be dairyfarmed with irrigation. It is disappointing the Federated Farmers continue to advocate changing the RMA to favour the false economics of these environmentally damaging practises. The only beneficiaries are those chasing capital gain and Australian-owned banks.

Ironically the productivity gains targeted by this Government but not achieved by MPI may be possible from relatively simple changes in farming practises and the adoption of proven research in the public domain. In meeting legislative requirements for a commercial return on tax-payer funded research, the incremental gains in productivity made by innovative farmers and fishers have largely been ignored. Big productivity gains have been made and further gains will be made by challenging supposedly evidence-based dogmas of farmers and the research organisations funded to advise them.

As Team NZ demonstrated in winning the Americas Cup, anything is possible with the tools, the will power and the motivation. What better target for a political party than uniting the country around achieving the goal of farming and fishing profitably within environmental limits?

There is no other choice There seems to be more interest in this election than the past three because there is a strong possibility of change in our Government.

Many voters have an issue that is personal to them while others look toward the future and see a need for change.

New Zealanders are now in a situation where we are being controlled and manipulated by the corporate organisations that influence our day to day living.

If you are a saltwater fisher then our inshore fishery is under threat from the commercial fishers exploiting the QMS to export our fish to be processed overseas. We have lost most of our local trade fresh fish and pay the high export value for reject and damaged fish sold in supermarkets and fish outlets.

If you are a freshwater angler you are already aware of the destruction that intensified dairying has done to our most precious rivers and streams.

Hunters are having their forests and hunting areas bombarded with mass destruction by 1080. DoC are not consulting with or listening to our voices as they are hell bent on killing off our deer and wild pigs under the guise of pest control.

The big question is do you want change or not?

In other countries around the world, a clear message was sent to those politicians whose policy supports the corporate mega rich that on the polling day it’s the votes that decide the Government not the size of your cheque book.

This election will be decided on trust by the voters but not as you think, it will be the political party that is trusted least that will lose the election rather than the most trusted party that will win themselves a shot a governance of NZ.

That is precisely how Trump became President, despite the media’s best efforts to say otherwise enough voters who went to the American polls on the day didn’t want another untrustworthy corporate politician as President.

For us, we have four realistic choices of your votes being in a coalition based Government.

Your party vote is policies vote nothing else. Of the top four NZF has had by far the most consistent policies of them all. Winston Peters has not changed his spots in any way shape or form.

Mr Peters has always tried to warn NZ’s about the dangers of high immigration, foreign land ownership, and separatism of governance based on the colour of a person’s skin.

Surely, given recent events surrounding immigration, foreign land sales and separatism, Winston Peters has earned the right to charge around the country giving a four worded speech “I told you so.”

NZ First has always had the best policy to fix the major issues of today so they should have you party vote no question.

Your candidate vote is for the person that you think can support your issues in your electorate as these issues can vary greatly depending on your location.

Money and time is the key for a candidate to get elected. If you don’t have time to take eight weeks off work to knock on doors or the money to pay for flyers or advertising in local newspapers people just don’t know who you are.

This is where NZ First, in particular, has come unstuck in the past. NZF has always struggled for enough money and has largely been unsupported by free media. I have been in the past sick of the ‘out of

line’ opinions of our media personalities when it comes to NZ First.

Just prior to the last election the editor of the NZ Herald used his position of privilege and influence to write a vicious attack on NZFirst in his pre-election editorial.

Leighton Smith on radio talk back even asked the public if it was a breach of fairness and the consensus was yes it was unfair. I heard a radio announcer talking to Winston Peters and as soon as Winston was ‘off air’ the announcer ridiculed Mr Peters when he had no way of replying.

This election I would love to teach the NZ media that it is the people who put their votes in a box on polling day that will elect the next Government not them.

I am so pleased that social media cannot be influenced by a stuffy nosed editor who refuses to print your letter because it does not suit his political views.

On social media, if you post and 50 people call you a muppet at least you can look at their comments as individuals with freedom of speech.

I believe that the self-opinionated journalists from NZ media have robbed the NZ people of the chance to see if NZ First is good enough to safeguard our NZ identity as globalisation closes in around us.

Go to social media and seek out your NZ First candidate and give them two ticks on Election Day because it is unlikely the national media of NZ will show you who they are.

We have to put our trust and faith in someone these elections as we have to vote.

Everyone makes mistakes and we have to move on from issues that affect us locally to the national issues.

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NZ First – the dangers If NZ First actually started making some firm commitments I believe that they could actually win a lot of electorate seats as many have had a gutsful of National and Labour’s lies.

Personally I would rather vote for NZ First but I can’t vote for a party that won’t disclose what they’ll do for our country. Winston refuses to make any promises on anything environmental other than the Pike River.

If he came out and made some nonnegotiable promises on immigration, housing and foreign land sales he could well get a majority. Then there’s the Reserve Bank, health, home ownership for first home buyers, our destroyed inshore fishery, selling water overseas, the pollution of our waterways from intensified dairying, making corporates pay their taxes, and the list goes on.

We have landlords sitting on empty houses and forcing high rental costs. I have nothing against investment but when the money is going overseas I surely do.

But Winston is strangely quiet on most if not all of these issues.

“Many people have been backing and pushing hard - for NZ First, the main reason being to end the reign of the Maori Party as the coalition partner with this corrupt National government. The Maori Party together with National are the reason NZ is divided into two races, the 15% Maori with all the extra privileges and “Rights” and the 85% second-class citizens who must now beg (and pay) for the use of their own land and water.

Will NZ First oppose any further demolition of democracy in New Zealand and will oppose any further gifts of

Marine reserve declines

Monitoring at Goat Island Marine Reserve shows that numbers of crayfish and snapper are now lower than when the reserve was established in 1975.

Following the creation of the reserve, numbers of crayfish recovered quickly, increasing four-fold in number by the 1990’s with snapper also becoming bigger and more common.

Leigh Marine Laboratory’s Dr Nick Shears attributed the decline to fishing on the reserve boundaries and the state of the wider fishery and said the pattern is similar at marine reserves at Tawharanui and Hahei.

This just goes to show that small reserves don’t work at all and are in fact damaging to the natural health of the wild fish stock. This example needs

to go back to the university professors who teach or brainwash their students on ecology from last year’s textbooks.

First, they should get a Crayfish and explain that the things on the side of its body are called legs and the Cray can use these to walk away anytime if feels like it.

The same could be said for fish that if they get hungry or horny will swim off.

Whoever decided years ago to stop allowing the public to feed the fish that lived there because when they did they took away the reason for the fish/Cray to stay. As soon as you create a marine reserve you have created an unnatural thing in nature by enclosing it with boundaries that aren’t naturally there and telling everybody about the fish bowl full of fish you have created.

That is three reserves have suffered the same fate and still the genius’s with green blood in their veins and tunnel vision don’t get that if you want the fish to stay put you have to feed them. Put five fifteen line mussel farms

land, water or “rights” to the Maori?

Which of their policies and they have some good ones, will they trade off with a coalition partner?

Winston of course will never answer this but the fact that he has made so many promises in the past and not delivered is of concern. Can he be trusted? One would hope so and if he does get in what will he do?

What promises will he trade away to get the main job? I would like to think that in NZ First we have a party with a strong list of MP’s that can finally be trusted to sort out these serious and frightening issues.

Some of the smaller fishing companies are now realizing that the larger companies are in bed with the MPI and that under the surface are determined to run this government department. However they are now pushing for a royal commission of enquiry which will open a bag of worms never seen before.

at Goat Island and go out every day the weather permits and feed them fifty sacks of berleyed up mussels. Then the fish won’t leave just like they don’t leave the farm in the Hauraki Gulf. The mussel farms would create structure and food for the fish as well as the ability for the scientists to study the environmental impact good and bad that mussel farms are, so that the environment can benefit the most from the man-made structure while maintaining a lucrative export industry.

This will solve the problem of recreational and commercial fishers fishing the reserve boundaries for the hungry fish with bait and berley because the fish will be like trained puppies and will live in and wait for the sound of the next mussel farm harvest.

Roll on the next act of un-naturalism that reserves attract and that is thousands of children in the water with snorkels and dive gear. Sell them some cooked mussels to feed the fish and they will be stoked and educated at the same time. The fish will learn and come to the noise of people to be feed just like they used to.

The Goat Island marine reserve has only gone back to its natural level of fish life the natural habitat and food source can support.

How to Get Bad Government

by Rupert Pye

It was UK former Prime Minister Harold Wilson who said “A week is a long time in politics.” It’s a quote often since used by politicians. It’s true. Things can change dramatically. Take Andrew Little’s recent admission that he offered to step down as Labour leader because of poor polling. Frankly it was a naive thing to say. Yes it was honest but it did not need saying. It was “in committee”, internal matters.

What effect will kit have on Labour’s chances? Where would Labour votes go if people reacted to it? Probably NZ First would be the top beneficiary. Then there was Metira Turei’s admission of not disclosing benefit fraud among her friends. That too was naive, politically reckless and rash. Yet some have lauded her for her honesty.

Others may see it as a poor example to follow.

I went trawling through some last election events and found this from the Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations.

Apparently the council is an umbrella forum for national and regional outdoor recreation organisations.

One statement by a Mr Andi Cockroft, co-chairman of the council attacked apathy amongst voters.

He wrote “If you believe the government should be fearful of the wrath of the public and a subsequent backlash at election time, well you are out of step with political moods of the last few decades. Apathy is commonplace. It’s plain to see.”

Mr Cockroft had some history to back up his concern.

The previous two general elections in 2011 and 2008 saw a million New Zealanders not vote or

either they were even too disinterested to register as voters.

In the forthcoming election the National-led government is up for its performance along with its sycophantic minor parties like ASCT, Maori and United Future.

“Those one million are selfish. They do not care about tomorrow and the legacy they leave to their children and grandchildren,” thundered Mr Cockroft.

He had every right to raise a storm. Apathy has always been a danger to democracy.

Further going back in history there are many prominent quotes on it.

Surprisingly Barack Obama said “I always believe that ultimately, if people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics.”

Why even Greek philosopher Plato 400 BC said “The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

Whether evil is a correct description is moot. But you could use “corrupt”, “mediocre” or some other term such as Obama’s “bad government.” Either way apathy leads the way to poor government and a disregard for the public interest and favours to the major corporate donors to political parties..

That is why the outdoor public must stand yup this election and be counted in terms of votes. Fishermen and hunters have been apathetic even in their own backyard. Take a look at the last two Fish and Game elections where in many regions not enough nominations were received to fill the council seats. The voting turnout by

shooters and anglers was woefully low.

But is the public awakening? Will the big voting block dozing wake up?

The National-led government is up for performance assessment along with its sycophantic support parties in United Future, ACT and Maori.

It has had three years since 2014 to impress the public. During the three years in a by-election the government (National) lost the Northland seat to the irrepressible NZ First’s leader Winston Is it the tide turning against a government that has become increasingly arrogant?

An example of arrogance has been the governments seize of control of the Resource Management Act largely led by Nick Smith who does not seem to understand the environment or his portfolio of Minister of Environment. In fact two of the poorer performing members of cabinet have been Smith and Minister of Conservation Maggie Barry. The power grab for the RMA was to turn its emphasis dominantly in favour of economic development - and relegate the environment to a low ranking.

Mr Cockroft picked up on this when he said “Chief target would be rivers both flowing and underground - the latter known as the aquifer - in order to increase the corporate style dairy farms. Remember water from the aquifer will deplete “above the ground” water flows i.e. rivers and streams. “ The public’s rivers and water should be a key issue in September’s election.

Footnote: Rupert Pye is a retired political journalist who loves it go fishing

Your vote

.. . .. .

on September 23 is important

It is vital to think about

Dirty rivers Lost water flows Corporate dairying 1080 and other toxins Loss of access Foreign buy ups of high country land and other similar issues.

USE YOUR VOTE WISELY

authorised by G. Carter, 35 Chesham Street, Hamilton

Our rivers & lakes are being polluted, our fresh water contaminated.

it’s time we all jumped into water conservation The Freshwater Rescue Plan is a joint initiative by some on New Zealand’s most prominant organisations, outlining 7 steps the NZ Government can take immediately if it is serious about protecting & restoring our waterways.

DIVE IN TO THE DEBATE LOBBY your MP - let them know this is a vital issue.

VISIT our website for more information and stay in the conversation.

freshwaterrescueplan.org