Angry angler: Putrid Manawatu River like fishing in open sewer

Norsewood's Gavin Mulinder believes human waste is polluting a section of the Manawatu River south of Dannevirke where he fishes. Photo / Christine McKay

Fishing in a section of the Manawatu River south of Dannevirke is like fishing in an "open sewer", Norsewood's Gavin Mulinder says.

A keen fisherman, Mr Mulinder has been fishing in the river where it meets the Kumeti Stream just twice, but told the Dannevirke News he wouldn't be going back and he hadn't eaten any fish he'd caught, preferring to throw them back.

"It's putrid, absolutely horrible," he said.

"The first time [at the end of November] I took home a couple of fish, but they were very smelly and when I gutted them they were green inside.

"They were good-sized fish, but the smell at the river and from those fish, well ... they just stink. I'm worried someone will eat a fish caught there and get sick."

Two weeks ago Mr Mulinder emailed Horizons Regional Council and Wellington Fish & Game warning of the pollution.

"I heard nothing," he said.

"The river definitely had a s**t smell last Wednesday night and it was human waste polluting the river, not cow waste.

"The water was murky and was running a brown/milky colour. But the Kumeti Stream which runs into the Manawatu River was clear."

In desperation, Mr Mulinder rang Horizons pollution hotline last Thursday.

"I told them it was human waste in the river, I know what a septic tank smells like. It definitely wasn't cow waste," he said.

A Horizons pollution-monitoring team spokesperson told the Dannevirke News it was looking into the complaint.