MEDIA RELEASE

29 December 2016

Cause of koura deaths in Putaruru stream remains unknown

Water testing on a stream in Putaruru has not yet identified a likely cause for the deaths of hundreds of koura (crayfish) last week.

Waikato Regional Council's incident response team first attended the Oraka Stream on Tuesday last week (20 December 2016) after a local fisherman reported seeing the dead koura during a visit to the stream in the vicinity of Galway Street.

Regional council staff returned to the stream for five consecutive days to gather water samples and carry out an extensive search of the area, as well as to speak with a number of upstream businesses as part of their inquiries.

“It appears a single acute event has killed the koura. However, the good news is that other aquatic life has been seemingly unaffected by it,” said incident response team leader, Derek Hartley.

“The results of testing on water samples collected over five days last week have been analysed by our scientists, and there's nothing that clearly identifies a likely cause of the deaths.

“While it's good news that there have been no further deaths of koura, we're continuing this week to eliminate potential causes as part of our ongoing investigation,” he said.

Mr Hartley encouraged anyone with information on the possible cause of the koura deaths to contact the council on 0800 800 401.

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