Conservation comes at a cost

SINCE her appointment as Environment Minister, Eugenie Sage has been relentless in her pursuit of what could be called the greater good.

Her plans for a huge tahr cull has upset hunters throughout the region and the debate is likely to end up in court.

Apart from the tahr, Ms Sage has found New Zealand’s native frogs are still struggling, the great white shark and basking shark have been classified as threatened for the first time, and the future of those species is not positive.

The minister announced in May $11.7 million is being made available to eradicate pests from Taranaki through a regionwide collaboration between Taranaki Regional Council and rural landowners who aim to eradicate introduced predators.

The project starts near New Plymouth and will be progressively rolled out across 4500 hec tares of farmland surrounding the Taranaki/Egmont National Park.

The home of a giant native grasshopper is said to be now safer after Crown land in the Mackenzie Basin was protected as conservation land.

The triangleshaped 440ha area known as the ‘‘Tekapo Triangle’’ is home to the largest known population of robust grasshopper (Brachaspis robustus), a species found only in the Mackenzie.

Ms Sage is also backing a Hawke’s Bay Regional Council plan to make Mahia Peninsula possumfree through a $1.62 millon grant.

All of those plans are worthy, particularly in the Mackenzie Basin, threatened by largescale dairying.

However, the two latest projects are likely to cause the most outrage from those enjoying the outdoors.

Ms Sage’s sudden tahr announcement means the Department of Conservation will kill 10,000 animals in various areas of the Southern Alps over the next eight months because the animal’s estimated 35,000 population is three times that permitted by the longestablished Himalayan Tahr Control Plan.

The New Zealand Deerstalkers Association will join the kill but says the 17,500 overall target is rushed and based on slender evidence. A heavy cull may spell the end of a unique, valuable trophy herd.

Slipping through the cracks is the Conversation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill which amends the Conservation Act 1987. The Bill enables the minister to review and improve regulations on fish passage and develop regulations to address threats such as damage to fishspawning sites and fish being killed by activities such as drainage works and pump stations.

In a continuation of her earlier theme, Ms Sage says just under half of the country’s freshwater fish are threatened with extinction. Indigenous fish such as galaxids, whitebait, eels, bullies, torrent fish and mudfish will be better protected by the Bill.

The minister says the new Bill will help manage indigenous fish and taonga species important to iwi.

Anglers are up in arms about the Bill. The Federation of Freshwater Anglers says the Bill may spell the end of freshwater sports fishing in New Zealand as it exempts residents who are authorised under the Treaty of Waitangi Act from restrictions on taking, possessing or selling sports fish.

The risk was the wholesale netting of trout for sale will leave no fish for sports fishing.

The Bill takes any authority away from Fish and Game and hands it to the Department of Conservation, the federation says.

There is considerable danger the minister is going too far. It appears to allow trout and salmon to be removed from particular rivers and lakes, even if they are significant fisheries. The Bill also gives the impression trout may be part of any future Treaty settlements.

Ms Sage will be wise to heed the concerns of the wider hunting and fishing community. What would be wrong is ignoring advice from one side at the expense of the other.