Unless we act quickly
dairy herd. Do you feel such a move would make a meaningful difference? Further, recent research found much contamination was in smaller waterways not being captured by fencing requirements. What sweeping actions do you feel are needed to stem degradation? And do you feel the collaborative approach that New Zealand has taken through the Land and Water Forum is still the right way to go?
The financial returns for dairy farming look to me in the future to be on the decline, so for economic reasons alone I think we need to start reducing the national dairy herd.
To me it is not so much one rule to fit them all.
Farmers need to farm to the limits of their land — and water.
I think many farmers are misinformed about what the best thing to do for their farm is.
Just fencing stock out of waterways might not be the right solution.
If the fence is right next to the stream, with no vegetation growing in the riparian on flat peat land it is a waste of time and money as any sediment, nutrients and pathogens just wash straight in with any rain.
I am developing a phone app so farmers can enter the farm characteristics and water quality problems and it will figure out what the best kind of riparian solution will be to have an effective outcome for the stream health.
We need more informed solutions for farmers, who want to do the right thing, so that they really can do things that will benefit the waterways.
I do not think the collaborative approach has worked.
It tends to devolve to the lowest agreeable terms which is often to do very little or nothing until we know for sure.
Things have got too bad now we have to start doing more truly effective actions, not having countless meetings to only decide that “it’s a real issue and we must do something”.
Let’s just do what we know we should. We have most of the science clear; many people just don’t like the answers.
Fellow Massey University freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy often points out the decades of nitrate use that will see these pollutants leaching into waterways for many years to come. How might such legacy problems undermine gains we are trying to make today?
Yes, it’s definitely an issue for the future, but I don’t like to think the “cancer” of our rivers from pollution is terminal.
So let’s do something now while we still can. We cannot go back in time. River systems do not tip over like some ecosystems, they just get slowly sicker and sicker.
They will never be what they were — but they can certainly be a lot healthier than they are currently.
The latest stocktake by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand found that, of the 39 native fish species covered by the report, 72 per cent were either threatened with, or at risk of, extinction. How grim is the outlook for our freshwater species?
As of right now I think the future for river ecology and Kiwis’ ability to swim and enjoy our water — just look in the news — is very grim.
But as with Steve Austin and The Six Million Dollar Man, we can rebuild, restore and save them.
We just need to do the right thing for the right stream.
Fence the correct riparian width for the farm type you have or fix the urban sewage infrastructure.
It’s not really rocket science. We just need to do it.
And perhaps if the Government and the agricultural industry was showing more leadership, we would.
We’ve now seen New Zealand’s freshwater problems reported on by major outlets like the the New the Economist and Al Jazeera. Do you feel our clean, green image is sustainable if we can’t tackle the issue?
The image is almost gone, I think.
And like virginity, once it is gone, it is gone.
We have lots of foreign students who come through the university and they are all telling me the pristine view of “Hobbiton New Zealand” is rapidly disappearing.
I always conclude my public talks by saying we can only fool people for so long.
It seems the international press has already figured it out.