Fish & Game joins with Ecan in river monitoring initiative
Fish & Game joins with Ecan in river monitoring
initiative
12 July 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
North
Canterbury Fish & Game is joining forces with Environment
Canterbury to buy a key device for monitoring the health of
the Hurunui River.
The two organisations will purchase a
$14,000 NICO real time nitrogen data logger – a device
that will measure the waterway’s nitrogen levels at set
intervals every 15 minutes.
The fixed position data
logger will be the first of its kind to be used in
Canterbury, and one of the first in New Zealand. It will
enable the Hurunui River to be precisely monitored around
the clock for the first time.
Fish & Game and Ecan have
been concerned about the state of many Canterbury rivers for
some time.
A 2015 Ecan report found 67% of spring-fed
streams on the plains are in poor condition with a further
40% of lowland streams in poor, or very poor
condition.
The Hurunui River can be classed as moderately
polluted for an alpine river, and has been the subject of
much debate over the state of its water quality along with
nitrogen and phosphorous levels; Fish & Game has requested
increased monitoring of both contaminants.
Currently
nitrogen recordings are taken monthly as part of the State
of the Environment (SOE) Monitoring Programme carried out by
ECan and NIWA.
North Canterbury Fish & Game Chairman
Trevor Isitt says being able to use a real-time logger is a
major step forward in allowing the collection of accurate
data because daily and weekly variations will be
recorded.
Mr Isitt says it will help the local community
as “Fish & Game staff work with rural communities on an
almost daily basis, and it came to our attention that we
needed to help the community achieve some clarity over water
quality issues.”
“Because the Hurunui River has
nationally significant recreation, tourism and amenity
values, Fish & Game is happy to put our money where our
mouth is and fund half the cost of this device.”
Fish &
Game was forced to bring in a winter fishing ban on some
North Canterbury rivers in 2016 because deteriorating water
quality meant fisheries were on the verge of collapse. The
aim was to protect some rivers from decline and to allow
others with environmental problems, time to
recover.
Anecdotal evidence provided by the Rural
Advocacy Network indicates the closure may have been
successful, with reports of trout being sighted preparing to
head to their spawning streams.
“Most of these fish
would have migrated up the river from lower reaches from May
onwards; their spawn timing is in line with other catchments
in the North Canterbury region at present.
“I wonder
if there would have been as many in this pod if we had
continued to allow angler harvest of these pregnant trout,
laden with thousands of eggs, to be taken out of the
catchment over the past two winters?
“It is pleasing
that these impressive prime brown trout brood stocks have
been left protected to spawn undisturbed by our own
anglers,” he added.
The progeny of this brood stock
trout is imperative to the regeneration, of not only the
Hurunui River trout populations but probably other East
Coast sea-run and lowland brown trout populations, Mr Isitt
says.
He notes that the purchase of the NICO data logger
may encourage more intense monitoring of other contaminants
on this river, in order to better understand existing
trends, such as an intensive phosphorus monitoring
programme.
“The gathering of this data should ensure
the Hurunui River receives the attention that it deserves so
that all fish species including natives can
thrive.”
ENDS