Several thousand tuna (eels) have been found dead in Low Burn Stream, an offshoot of the Mataura River, near Brydone south of Gore.

Hokonui Rūnaka Kaiārihi Taiao Riki Parata is saddened by the event.

“It’s quite emotional for us,” he says.

He explains some of the volunteers cleaning up are from the Hokonui Rūnaka Wai Māori team, which monitors tuna for research and has been trapping and transferring juveniles from the Mataura Falls in the Mataura River Mātaitai, which was set up to protect taonga species including tuna.

“It’s devastating. We work daily with the tuna in this area, so to see this is very confronting. It’s a hell of a lot of tuna in a very small stream.”

Riki Parata says his group found 400 dead tuna in a 500-metre stretch of the stream.

He wants to thank the volunteers from Te Ao Mārama and Environment Southland kaimahi for their continuous updates and huge effort in the field.

He is unsure what killed the tuna. Environment Southland is investigating the cause of the deaths.

“This is a tragic event. I want to appeal to people to treat our waterways with more respect. They’re not drains. We need to look after our awa. It’s precious.”

Tuna are an important taonga species for Ngāi Tahu and Hokonui Rūnaka. They are essential to the continuation of mahika kai for Ngāi Tahu, which has customary take rights for events such as hui and tangi, as well as a portion of the commercial take.

Some iwi use tuna as an ecological health indicator to assess water and habitat quality. There are countless stories, artefacts, and waiata dedicated to tuna, which reinforces their importance to not just Ngāi Tahu.

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