Friday March 12, 2004
MEDIA RELEASE

New Water Conservation Order Will Save The Mohaka River From Exploitation

A great decision for a great river is how Fish & Game New Zealand today welcomed the Government’s decision to place a Water Conservation Order (WCO) on Hawke’s Bay’s Mohaka River.

“This Water Conservation Order will give the Mohaka River the status of a national park and this will protect the River’s amenity values for the whole community from dams, pollution and irrigation schemes,” says Bryce Johnson Fish & Game’s Director. “The Government must to be congratulated for taking this very sound conservation step.”

“Water Conservation Orders give ordinary citizens a chance to save our wilderness from the exploitation of big power companies and large agribusiness, who want to exploit publicly owned resources for their own self interest,” says Bryce Johnson. “Water Conservation Orders are provided for under the Resource Management Act and they are the strongest form of legal protection available for rivers and lakes.”

“The WCO will protect the River from above the State Highway Five bridge, the Mokonui Gorge, and the Mohaka’s tributaries. It is a beautiful, wild river providing outstanding white water rafting, angling and canoeing. Even though the application was paid for by anglers and hunters, and supported by many outdoor recreation organisations and the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board, we see this as win for the whole Hawke’s Bay community, and indeed the nation, who will benefit from this decision.”

“It has taken 12 years since the Mohaka River WCO was won to get it gazetted, and we hope the Government will now gazette the Water Conservation Order on the Motueka River which was applied for 14 years ago and finally won last year.”

Fish & Game New Zealand’s predecessors, the Acclimatisation Societies, were the applicants for the Mohaka River WCO in 1987.

ENDS

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