Eels rescued as lagoon disappears
Mata Kopae/st Annes Lagoon, north of Cheviot in the Hurunui District, was dry, its abundant eels dying.
But a community stood up to protect its taonga.
About 30 people, Environment Canterbury (Ecan) staff, Cheviot locals, school children and members of Ngai Tuahuriri, were on site on Friday to rescue eels stranded by the receding water.
The rescuers transported eels in drums to a safe tributary of the Waiau River for release.
An Ecan spokesperson said some eels had already died before rescuers arrived.
Ngai Tuahuriri tangata kaitiaki Makarini Rupeni said the area came under the remit of Kaikoura hapu Ngati Kuri. He had asked Ngati Kuri kaumatua for their blessings to help, which they gave.
Rupeni said some of the eels saved were long fin eels, a species on the critically endangered list.
Cheviot Area School deputy principal Scott Bermingham went to the lagoon with 10 year 11 students to ‘‘do some good stuff’’ and help out the community.
‘‘We were literally dragging hundreds [of eels] out of the mud and back to the shore by sack.’’
Bermingham said more than 2000 eels were saved.
Hurunui District councillor of the Cheviot ward Vince Daley said that, while unusual, the lagoon drying up would happen ‘‘once in a lifetime’’.
‘‘She’s bone dry. It’s happened before, in the early 1970s.’’
He said he asked Ecan if they could ‘‘dig a big hole’’ in the lagoon while it was dry, to provide a watery refuge for eels if it happened again.
‘‘Here’s a chance to enhance a wetland . . . get in there while it’s dry.’’
Daley said the lagoon had not had any significant runoff in three years because of the drought .
He said runoff would refill the lagoon when the drought broke and the area received some ‘‘big northeast rains’’.
Flows of the nearby Stanton and Mason rivers had been low in 2015 and 2016, and Ecan said they gave an indication of the inflow trends into the lagoon.
In 2015, James Paterson, owner of the 356-hectare Ridgeway Farm which bordered the lagoon said it was extremely shallow and fed by runoff from the hills.
‘‘In dry summers it can become stagnant and susceptible to toxic blue-green algae,’’ he said.
Ecan surface water science manager Helen Shaw said cumulative rainfall totals in North Canterbury had been low over 2015 and 2016.
‘‘In 2015, the nearby Lowry Peaks and Stanton rain gauge received approximately 50 per cent of the long-term average while 2016 received only 63 per cent.’’
These totals were two of the three lowest totals received in the more-than 40 years of recordings for both sites, Shaw said.
‘‘Despite some good rain in Spring 2016, both winters have been very dry, leaving this part of the region in deep deficit.’’
– Fairfax NZ