Napier City Council to pursue alleged frozen fish dumper as new evidence emerges

The frozen fish carcasses which could cost the culprit tens of thousands of dollars. Photo / Supplied

New evidence has identified a person allegedly involved dumping of more than 60kgs of frozen fish into a Napier waterway, Napier City Council says.

The council's manager of environmental solutions Cameron Burton said it was grateful for the critical information received from the public in relation to dumping in the the Purimu Waterway, which leads to the Ahuriri Estuary.

"This morning [Tuesday] we have been provided with the address that the fish came from during a house move, the registration plate of the offending vehicle, and the name of the alleged offender, who is now based out of the region," Burton said.

"We will be following this lead and hoping that the person will be able to assist us with our inquiries."

Burton said most of Napier's stormwater networks, from Meeanee and EIT, Poraiti Hills to Napier Boys' High, Hospital Hill to Jervoistown, entered urban waterways that lead directly to Ahuriri Estuary.

"Dumping anything other than rain water into Napier's stormwater networks, whether it is frozen fish, waste oil, sawdust shavings, hydraulic fluid, detergents, or dirt and mud from building sites for example, is illegal," he said.

"It is a breach of our recently adopted Stormwater Bylaw, the Local Government Act and Resource Management Act (enforced by the Regional Council) and potentially a contravention of the Litter Act too."

Since the illegal frozen fish dumping incident a little more than a week ago, the council's Environmental Solutions Team had four further call-outs over and above their normal work, Burton said.

They were:

- Saltwater Creek: widespread thick oily sheen on it

- A car crashed into the County Waterway at the end of a no exit street

- 20 litres of petrol fell off the back of a ute and into the kerb and channel adjacent to the Old Tutaekurī River bed

- An industrial site was discharging hydrocarbons during a rainfall event

Burton said the council encouraged members of the public who suspected an activity might be polluting the urban waterways to call on 0800 4 NAPIER.

"This is so that we can quickly assess what is going on and put a stop to it. If we all work together we can clean up our waterways."