Council welcomes report into estuaries

The region’s estuaries will benefit from a recommendation to target policy around their management, says Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.

A report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton recommended estuaries and the waterways that feed them should be treated as a single entity.

The “Managing our Estuaries” report highlights the complexity around management of the country’s estuaries.

HBRC chief executive James Palmer welcomed the proposal to tighten up national policy around estuaries.

Palmer said the recommendation that estuaries become part of the Freshwater Management Units under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management would mean work could be prioritised nationally on linking freshwater limit setting to estuary health.

“The proposals in this report and the Action for Healthy Waterways package would accelerate current efforts to improve the region’s freshwater and enable stronger, more targeted management for estuaries,” Palmer said.

The land and river network of Hawke’s Bay terminate at the numerous large estuaries of Po¯rangahau, Tukituki, Waitangi, Ahuriri, Wairoa and Maungawhio.

HBRC marine and coasts team leader Anna MadaraszSmith said many of the region’s estuaries are showing signs there is too much sediment entering them from the surrounding catchment.

“We are working with landowners to reduce sediment loads to our estuaries, but need better science nationally around how we link these reductions to better outcomes for our estuaries,” she said.

“Many of the smaller systems wind through catchments to make their way to the coast delivering sediments and nutrients to the coastal area. Although these systems comprise a small percentage of the overall coastal area, they make an important ecological contribution.”

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Te Pou Whakarae Pieri Munro welcomed the recommended inclusion of marine species in the definition of mahinga kai.

“Many of our taonga species spend time in both marine and freshwater habitats, and estuaries are an important source of kai,” he said.

“The recommendation highlights the need to manage our waters to protect these values.”