Logo Supplied: Fish and Game New Zealand
Current regulations are hindering the creation of new wetlands, says Fish & Game New Zealand.
The country’s leading advocate for wetlands, believes the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater regulations (NES-FW) make enhancing and restoring wetlands more difficult while failing to protect existing wetlands, Fish and Game NZ CEO Corina Jordan said.
The organisation wants a review of the NES-FW wetland rules. Fish & Game helped drive about $22 million investment in restoring wetlands, mainly on private land in partnership between hunters and landowners,
‘We have been providing significant free consultancy services to help communities and farmers secure consents. Many landowners are walking away from projects to create or restore wetlands on their properties because of the amount of additional red tape and costs the regulations have introduced,’ Corina said.
‘This is an absurd outcome when wetlands not only provide habitat for indigenous and valued introduced species but are also a key tool in farmers’ toolkit to address losses of sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus from the farm, as well as supporting climate change adaption and mitigation.
‘For instance, one owner with nine wetlands has told us about the challenging process required to gain consents to carry out routine maintenance of the canals and more than 125 ponds on their properties. These enhancement activities had previously been pretty straightforward to work through.
‘Another farmer received a $25,000 estimate from a regional council for a resource consent and environmental assessment to increase the size of a wetland on their property. That’s simply cost-prohibitive and is inhibiting potential conservation gains on private land.”
Regional councils were interpreting the NES-FW differently.
While overall, there was a move to more consents and red tape, there were wide differences in conditions being imposed on landowners.
Discretionary resource consents needed for wetland creation when previously this was permitted (no consent required). Quarrying activities in wetlands have gone from often being non-complying to discretionary (less restrictive).
“Therefore, it has become harder to create wetlands and easier to destroy them,” Corina said. ‘We’ve had people say it’s easier to get consent for intensive winter grazing than it is to build a wetland.
‘Farmers may recognise the potential for turning a swampy paddock into a wetland but not know how to go about the process. Fish & Game provides that expertise, connections and support free of charge.”
