About

Introducing Environment River Patrol – Aotearoa, New Zealand

My Uncle Henry and I set up Environment River Patrol-Aotearoa in Sept 2010. Thirteen of my uncles and auntie’s (15) were born at our homestead on the banks of the Wairua River. Some, including my grandfather are buried at Te Kowhai urupa on the banks of the Mangakahia River.

We have seen our once pristine Wairua and Mangakahia Rivers turn into polluted ditches. They carry enormous amounts of effluent, nutrients and sediment from dairy and beef farms from the upper catchments down to smother our Kaipara Harbour.

Our work includes kaitiaki of our tuna (eels) and awa (rivers) all over our region of the Northland Regional Council and also on other rivers throughout the country We walk, paddle and motor boat our rivers and streams and seek where pollution is causing “detrimental effects” to our waterways.

We report to authorities and Northland Regional Council with GPS mapped photos and assessment reports. We make the point that we do not deal direct to the farmer or identify them. It is important that our hard working farming community are respected within our reporting process.

The mapped photos identify the location of the reports for the authorities to follow up on. What we see is a vast amount of dairy and beef farms not fenced off to waterways. Cattle are able to foul up to, and into the water and also cause high sedimentation that all flows on to our Whangarei and Kaipara harbours.

Unfenced beef are a major problem, as they are not required to be fenced off in the Regional Policy and beef farmers are not signatories to the Fonterra (dairy farmers) Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord 2013. Dairy farms are increasing their effluent discharge consents and many klms of their smaller streams are unfenced. NRC reports that in its region, up to 40% of dairy farm effluent systems are not compliant with regulations or consents to discharge to waterways.

Our tuna (eels) are in crisis. Their habitat and water quality are in severe decline. A power station and seven flood pump stations kill most all of our 30 to 70 year old eel migrating breeding stock as they pass through the cutting pumps and turbines on their way to the breed off the Noumea and the Tongan Trenches.

The recruitment of returning elvers (baby eels) meet the same obstacles for those that come back up the Wairua River. ERP-A also does assessment reports on new and existing consents that have an effect on our tuna and the environmental well-being of our waterways.

Capital items have been funded from our own resource’s (savings) ie – vehicles, motor boat, canoes, and sundry equipment from conception of our start up of ERP. We have been blessed to receive funding from Nga Whenua Rahui for operational costs over a 40 month period.