Estuary Editorial (Friday)

Editorial: Time to save our estuaries

OPINION: The sky isn't falling. But the estuaries are gasping.

An Environment Southland report on the state of our estuaries places them on the verge of an ecological disaster. You could say we've been hearing that for while now. Take any comfort from that sense of familiarity and you're kidding yourself.

The problem has been expanding and accelerating. All Southland's estuaries bar one, Freshwater, has shown signs of rapid degradation and most have exponential increases in those reeking eutrophic areas where algae feed off the nutrients that escape our heavily-farmed land.

It's far from a localised problem and neither local nor national government has been idle. You might recall that in 2011 the Government, ahem, "required" regions to maintain or improve the water quality in their lakes, rivers, wetlands and aquifers.

Then came a proposed national "plan of action" (a title to distinguish this from plans of inaction?) for improving water quality and the way freshwater is managed.

This led to the announcement of a "collaborative planning option for the development of a freshwater plan within a community".

And yep, some extra resourcing resulted. Budget 2014 put another $20 million, over four years, to boost freshwater and environment initiatives, a large part of which was to help councils and communities improve the way they plan and make decisions about managing their local freshwater resources. Down on the farm, ES has already introduced new resource-consent requirements for dairy conversions - a good move, albeit one that hasn't led to a whole heap of refusals.

Cynicism is not required here. There has been, for years now, a genuine and not-insubstantial attempt to front up to the problem after a sustained time of dangerous under-reaction not simply by authorities, but by our wider society.

Breathing estuaries aren't nice-to-have things. More than just an indicator of how we're doing environmentally they're really important ecosystems in themselves. Ask the fishing industry.

We seriously need to turn the figures around. And we haven't. That is scary.

Estuary news (Thursday)

Estuarine disaster forecast

BRIDGET RAILTON

Estuaries in Southland are on the verge of an ecological disaster, according to Environment Southland reports.

A report on estuarine and rocky-shore monitoring results was presented to councillors at yesterday's environmental management committee meeting. It painted a dire picture on the health of estuaries.

All bar Freshwater Estuary showed signs of rapid degradation, with the gross eutrophic (rich in nutrients that feed algae) areas of most increasing exponentially.

Jacobs River Estuary's area at a gross eutrophic level had increased from 20 hectares in 2008 to 141ha in 2013 - 30 per cent of the estuary.

Councillor Robert Guyton said he was concerned by this and questioned whether it showed the estuary was on the verge of a huge ecological collapse.

"They talk about estuaries being the canary in the mine and it looks like the canary is dead," Guyton said.

It was a big concern as, among other things, estuaries were habitats for flatfish, the loss of which which would impact the fishing industry, he said.

After the report's presentation, Malcolm Lawson, chief executive of Cra8, the fishery to the south of New Zealand, spoke about the impact of water quality on the fishing industry.

After the food safety scares in China stemming from New Zealand products, New Zealand's fishing industry could not afford any negative perceptions, Lawson said. The industry was keen for opportunities to work with the council and other agencies.

"We can't afford for them to have a perception we are fishing out of waters that are polluted. Whether it's true or not, once that perception is generated it's difficult to change."