Saving New River Estuary

A new environmental group has been formed to try and save the New River Estuary.

About 50 people gathered at the Lindisfarne Methodist Church on Monday to take part in the Saving New River Forum and look at issues occurring in the estuary and its wider catchment.

Invercargill Labour MP Dr Liz Craig, who was one of the forum organisers, said she and many others had become concerned by the state of the estuary.

Craig often walked along the estuary with her partner in her downtime and said she had become more aware of the poor state the estuary was in. ‘‘If you’re on the boardwalk and you look down, what you notice is everything’s covered by this layer of thick slime and mud.’’

The estuary was being affected by a complex soup that included agricultural runoff, treated sewerage coming from the city, leaching from the rubbish dump and discharges from the aging stormwater system, Craig said.

The point of the forum was to bring together experts and community stakeholders to figure out how the estuary was being affected and what could be done to try and improve the health of the waterway, she said.

There were several guest speakers to present during the forum including some who talked about their work to improve estuaries in other parts of the country.

Dr Jane Kitson, who was another one of the forum organisers, has been involved in ecology and environmental science for several years in Southland and lives next door to the estuary.

In the decade she has lived there she had seen a rapid change in the health of the estuary.

Kitson regularly went floundering with her family there but said the activity was becoming harder and they often found themselves sinking into the mud or catching a lot of algae.

Estuaries played an important role in the environment as a nursery for young freshwater and coastal fish, Kitson said.

Her hope was that the forum would bring together parties to join forces rather than fight each other and focus on ways to improve the estuary.

Based on the evidence presented at the forum it was decided that a group needed to be formed to take action and there would be another meeting on how to progress that group.

‘‘... everything’s covered by this layer of thick slime and mud.’’ Labour MP Dr Liz Craig

PHOTO: STUFF Saving New River Forum coordinator Dr Jane Kitson, Porirua City Council Porirua Harbour strategy coordinator Keith Calder, Invercargill Labour MP Dr Liz Craig and Sunshine Rotary member Richard Kyte are trying to come up with a plan to protect Invercargill’s estuary.