Eel deaths signal state of Wairarapa waterways

The death near Lake Wairarapa last week of countless eels including some from a threatened species is just another sign of a looming disaster for waterways in the region, says a veteran eel fisherman.
Graham Higginson, who has fished eel commercially for more than three decades in Wairarapa, was speaking yesterday after reading a Times-Age story outlining the discovery by a Featherston man on Friday of "thousands" of dead and dying eels left stranded after weed-clearing work beside a stream at Lake Reserve.
Pilcher Earthmoving owner Gary Pilcher said he had seen no eels during the weed-clearing work earlier in the week and that "when a blocked drain is holding up production I don't give a fat rat's arse about the eels I don't care".
Mr Higginson said the fish left dead and dying last week had included some longfin eels that are a threatened species and that resource consent would probably have been needed before the clearing work began.
Mr Higginson said he has watched as similar waterway control and irrigation schemes have devastated territory and rest holes throughout the region for both eel and trout, reducing their habitats "by more than two-thirds" over the past 35 years. "I fished eel right from the headwaters in the Tararua foothills and all the way down when I started. Now there are a few holes south of the Waiohine Bridge near Greytown but the Ruamahanga and Waingawa are pretty much shot end to end. And it's not just the eel either it's the same for trout now as well. But this latest incident is just the tip of the iceberg.
"As commercial fishermen we take the rap from people about the eels disappearing but it's the farmers and councils who still have the drainage mentality from 150 years ago drain it, drain it, drain it.
"Now there's not enough water and what's left leaves too fast and scours the riverbeds out as it goes," he said.
Mr Higginson said habitat destruction "in the name of drainage or flood protection" has turned wetlands and meandering rivers and streams into farmland and created straight braided waterways devoid of cover for all our fish species.
"What we now are facing is nothing short of an ecological disaster that's filling Lake Onoke and Lake Wairarapa, the jewel in our crown, with sediment," he said.
"Do we have to destroy one to protect the other?
"I remember 20 or 30 years ago dragging for flounder near the lake where trees are growing now. In the long term there will still be a river there but if we keep going at this pace there'll be no lake there in 100 years because it's filling up with silt and gravel so horrendously fast," he said.
"By all means build stopbanks to protect land, but remove the bulldozer that simply digs up the shingle beaches and softens them so that the next flood takes the shingle further downstream to fill the next hole, which has happened to most of our rivers."
Mr Higginson said water storage needs to be a priority and "huge efforts" need to be made to keep water in the riverbeds for as long as possible "not making it return to the sea as fast as possible".
"The longer it stays the more it soaks in and replenishes the underground water as well. Nimbys are alive and well here in Wairarapa when it comes to flooding get the water off my land as fast as possible but not when it comes to wanting water for irrigation.
"Some solutions to our current problem is to shock, horror build dams on all our rivers so that the flow of water can be controlled all year and not the feast or famine that we have at present.
"Remove the gravel clogging our waterways and use it to metal tracks or as fill. Plant species of vegetation that will hold stop banks in defined positions, allow the water to again meander within those confines, creating its own path," he said. "At the end of the day nature will take its course and do what it wants."
Department of Conservation Wairarapa area manager Chris Lester said there were longfin eels among those left stranded at Lake Reserve and although the species is threatened, it is not protected.
He said he discussed the matter with officers from Greater Wellington regional Council and South Wairarapa District Council who respectively hold authority over the affected stream and the reserve.
"There are rules and regulations over the gathering or otherwise of eels for purposes other than for food but it may be that these fish were victims of another activity altogether.
"It is a question as to whether it was a permitted activity and whether consent was needed and there are people working on finding answers to those questions."