Waikato and Waipa River Catchments Koi Carp Issues
Proposed Waikato Regional Plan Change
1
Waikato and Waipa River
Catchments
Koi Carp
Issues
The Healthy Rivers: Plan for
Change/Wai Ora: He Rautaki Whakapaipai project Vision and
Strategy required the development of a plan for the rivers
to be swimmable and safe for food collection.
The change to the Operative Waikato Regional Plan (WRP) is designed to restore and protect water quality in the Waikato and Waipa Rivers by managing nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and microbial pathogen levels in the rivers.
The Vision and Strategy states that the Waikato and Waipa Rivers are degraded and require restoration and protection and that one method for this will be provided by ongoing management of diffuse and point source discharges of nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and microbial pathogens.
Yet arguably the largest contributor to sediment loading in the rivers is ignored in this plan change – KOI CARP!
The plan change document includes the table shown below:
Ecosystem health
The Waikato
and Waipa catchments support resilient freshwater ecosystems
and healthy freshwater populations of indigenous plants and
animals.
• Clean fresh water restores and protects
aquatic native vegetation to provide habitat and food for
native aquatic species and for human activities or needs,
including swimming and drinking.
• Clean fresh water
restores and protects macroinvertebrate communities for
their intrinsic value and as a food source for native fish,
native birds and introduced game species.
• Clean fresh
water supports native freshwater fish
species.
• Wetlands and floodplains provide water
purification, refuge, feeding and breeding habitat for
aquatic species, habitat for water fowl and other ecosystem
services such as flood attenuation.
• Fresh water
contributes to unique habitats including peat lakes, shallow
riverine lakes and karst formations which all support unique
biodiversity.
• Rivers and adjacent riparian margins
have value as ecological corridors.
Koi carp
contribute to poor water quality and are a serious problem
in both Australia and New Zealand.
What
damage do they do?
When they feed they stir up
the bottom of ponds, lakes and rivers, muddying the water
and destroying native plant and fish habitat. Koi carp are
opportunistic omnivores, which means they eat a wide range
of food, including insects, fish eggs, juvenile fish of
other species and a diverse range of plants and other
organic matter.
They feed like a vacuum cleaner, sucking
up everything and blowing out what isn’t wanted. Aquatic
plants are dislodged in the process and are unlikely to
re-establish. Koi carp cause habitat loss for plants, native
fish, invertebrates and waterfowl.
Koi Carp can produce
approximately 14 times their own body weight of sediment
each year through this feeding method. It is estimated that
there are approximately 500,000 tonnes of Koi Carp in the
Auckland/Waikato region.
Where are they
found?
Koi carp prefer still waters in lakes, or
backwaters in rivers. They are highly tolerant of poor water
quality and contribute to water quality decline.
Koi Carp
have no natural predators in the New Zealand environment and
when this fact is coupled with a breeding success rate of
approximately 99% this shows why they have been able to
multiply and spread across the regions so rapidly.
Koi
carp are widespread in Auckland and Waikato. They are
spreading into Northland and they have been found in
isolated places in Whanganui, Hawke's Bay and Wellington.
Koi carp have been illegally released in the
Nelson/Marlborough
area.
Breeding
Waikato koi rarely
exceed 9 years of age. Females average 5.2 years and males
4.6 years of age. An average fish weighs 3 kg. Females
produce 100 000 eggs per kg of body weight. A typical female
can produce 300 000 eggs annually (or more if they spawn
more than once). Koi carp spawn throughout the summer. As
they gather for spawning or feeding in the shallow margins
of the river, koi biomass can reach 4000 kg/ha.
Koi carp
breed prolifically with a single fish laying between 800,000
to 1 million eggs.
Once established in an area they have
a huge and significant impact on rivers and ponds. They
destabilize river and pond banks and destroy habitat for
native fish and waterfowl. The effect on the water quality
is dramatic as they disturb the bottom of streams and ponds
as they grub through bottom sediments and uproot plants,
significantly increasing water turbidity.
The koi is an
opportunistic feeder, eating insects, juvenile fish of other
species, a diverse range of plants and organic matter. Once
introduced they can quickly become the dominant fish in
water bodies.
Legal
designation
• Unwanted organism
• Noxious
species
Impact of pest fish
Many
people are unaware of the damage done to our waterways by
pest fish. Unfortunately some types of introduced fish have
spread into the wild, become pests and are threatening New
Zealand’s freshwater species and environments
by:
• Stirring up sediment and making the water
murky
• Increasing nutrient levels and algal
concentrations
• Contributing to erosion
• Feeding
on and removing aquatic plants
• Preying on
invertebrates, native fish and their eggs
• Competing
with native species
Even if we were to ban farming
totally we would still have a problem with water quality
from the effects of the invasive pest fish species.
So in relation to the Ecosystem Health as set out in the plan change document, surely Koi Carp must be addressed as they have a huge effect on the rivers from the damage they do. Along with Catfish they are one of the most rapidly multiplying invasive pests that have been released into the New Zealand environment.
Koi Carp and catfish are now common in our waterways but have been largely ignored with the focus for water quality improvement being almost totally on the effects from agriculture.
The Koi Carp is now rapidly becoming one of the worst invasive pests in New Zealand and as such and taking into account their geographic spread, they are a problem where the solution should be funded by central government and not by the general ratepayers in any particular region.
They are now a national problem and require a national solution and appropriate funding from central government to allow control measures to be implemented across the whole country.
What we're actually dealing with is the multiple impacts that humans are having on the waterways and if we really want to restore these water bodies to what we want them to be then we need to have fit for purpose legislation that still allows for all parts of society both Urban and Rural, to provide for their social, economic, and cultural well-being and for their health and safety as stipulated in the Resource management Act 1991.
Going
forward
The region, in fact
New Zealand as a whole has to have a discussion and decide,
what is the standard that is required across the whole
country and then enact that standard nationally, rather than
the current situation where we have differing standards
across all of the regions in New Zealand.
If as part of that discussion it is desired that we take actions that impact on the ability of rural land users and communities to carry out activities that are currently legal then we must as a nation, in the interests of natural justice, be prepared to fairly compensate those land users and communities for the reduction/removal of those current legal rights.
In saying that then we must also provide the same
certainty of fair compensation to urban land users and
communities that face a similar reduction/removal of any
existing legal rights.
This discussion around the
national standards must include any requirements in relation
to Climate Change, Greenhouse gas Emissions reductions, ETS
and the proposed Zero Carbon Bill as opposed to the current
ridiculous situation where, under regulation such as PC1
proposed by WRC, this is inconsistent with Government’s
climate change goals.
To be undertaking legislative change at a regional level that is going to end up with requirements that are the reverse of New Zealand’s obligations at a national; and international level would be nonsensical to say the least.
Specifically, the grand parenting of diffuse nitrate discharge rights serves to discourage research and innovation into alternative / lower GHG emission farming methods. Grand parenting emissions rights based on past practice serves to discourage innovation and slow the adoption of alternative, less damaging farming practices.
Surely we can achieve more and better outcomes by taking the time now to ensure that all of our obligations under any climate change accords are accounted for whilst still achieving the desired improvements in water quality under local government legislation (i.e. PC1).
To have any chance of success in addressing the desired improvements in water quality then we “MUST” put in place strategies to deal with the invasive pest fish species such as Koi Carp and Catfish and have these included in PC1.
Failure to address the pest fish issues will result in absolute failure of the ability to achieve the requirements of the Vision & Strategy, relating to Swimmability and Food gathering.
The water will be too sediment laden for swimming and there will be no native flora or fauna left for food gathering after the Koi Carp have finished feeding.
Andy
Loader
Co-Chairman
P.L.U.G.
(Primary land Users
Group)