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TROUT FISHING WITH MAURICE RODWAY - Weekly Column: 27-October-00
 Southland, New Zealand

State of the Environment Report

This week Environment Southland released its State of the Environment Report. Some parts of it make grim reading. The lower reaches of our rivers are not safe to swim in. Drinking the water there invites a rumbly tummy or, more likely, worse. The intensification of farming is the most likely cause of this malaise. Bacteria and soil washed off farmland make the once happy lower Mataura, Oreti and Aparima fat brown streaks across the land and across a river health chart. The fatter the river the worse the problem. The Mataura is so fat it won't fit on the page.

The Waiau is relatively healthy because it is farthest from the most developed land. But its main tributary, the Mararoa, registers as a river with warning signs. The Mararoa?

Surely not. This tussock shrouded beauty rimmed by the mountains? Yes the Mararoa. It carries the mud of pastures recently ploughed, where once tussocks stretched from ridge to ridge. There will be many







readers who can remember driving from Mossburn to Te Anau along a dusty road with hardly a fence in sight. In those days the Mararoa ran crisp and clean, even after the heaviest rain.

Quite coincidentally Fish and Game New Zealand, in collaboration with NIWA fisheries scientists, are developing a survey to compare angling then and now with an emphasis on lowland rivers. Not only is there a problem with rivers in Southland but also elsewhere, in New Zealand and overseas. Lowland rivers are becoming muddier and sicker. In many places overseas they have died, however in a few places they have recovered. These are where rules have been put in place to prevent the causes of the sickness. The simplest cure comes in the form of fences which keep farms and fish separated. Fortunately there are many rivers where this has happened. Some in Southland, such as the upper Oreti, and Aparima are still well. But elsewhere there is much bandaging to be done.

The comparison of then and now will be interesting. It relies on plenty of participants. Locally Fish and Game will be contacting anglers who can remember the old days, especially those who recorded their trips. Sometimes the glow of the past can outshine modern experiences.  Last Labour weekend I caught two trout in a little Hokonui stream before lunch. In 1931 two anglers fished the same water on Labour Day too and came up with only one. Does this mean the fishing is twice as good now? Such a claim would not be too convincing. But is an interesting comparison nevertheless. Many others are needed. If we can establish that the fishing is poorer, really poorer, that will be another tool to use to restore rosy cheeks to the rivers that flow across our land.  

Maurice Rodway
Southland, New Zealand                           E-mail: mrodway@southlandfishgame.co.nz

Article © 2000 Maurice Rodway, All Rights Reserved.

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