By Rebecca Hogan<\/p>\n
An investigation has been launched after thousands of eels and other aquatic life were found dead or dying at Pukepuke Lagoon in what iwi have described as a \u201cdevastating scene\u201d.<\/p>\n
Rangit\u0101ne o Manawat\u016b Settlement Trust\u2019s Debbie te Puni said the mass deaths were unprecedented despite the lagoon, nestled between the Manawat\u016b townships of Himatangi and Tangimoana, being known to dry up during summer months or droughts.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Horizons Regional Council alerted the Department of Conservation (DOC) and local iwi and hap\u016b to the dried-up lakebed, strewn with dead and dying wildlife.<\/p>\n
Te Puni said the scenes were \u201cquite a shock to the system\u201d.<\/p>\n
The cause of the dry lakebed could be a combination of things, likely long-term groundwater extraction, drainage issues and weather extremes, te Puni said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at a full iwi-led investigation so we can ensure this doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Te Puni said it was crucial for iwi and hap\u016b to front this situation and for external groups to support with their technical expertise, but to \u201cstep aside and allow iwi and hap\u016b to take the lead in this space\u201d.<\/p>\n
Future proofing the wellbeing of Pukepuke Lagoon was about putting politics and \u201cfriction\u201d aside to acknowledge \u201cthe mana of the whenua\u201d, te Puni said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are taonga species which have been part of our lives and our t\u016bpuna lives for many years. There\u2019s a very deep connection here as opposed to it just being a piece of land which has to be monitored.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chairperson of Te R\u016bnanga o Ng\u0101 Wairiki – Ng\u0101ti Apa Pahia Turia said: \u201cMany farmers will tell us this is a natural phenomenon. Nowhere in our history though did any of our ancestors ever talk about that lake drying up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turia said significant lakes had been \u201cabsolutely drained\u201d over the past hundred years for farming, and he assumed drainage systems around Pukepuke were the cause of these scenes.<\/p>\n
Horizons Regional Council, Manawat\u016b District Council (MDC) and DOC were also at Pukepuke on Friday and would be involved in investigating the cause of mass deaths.<\/p>\n
Horizons chief executive Michael McCartney said this situation was \u201cconfronting\u201d and \u201charm to taonga species is something none of us want to see\u201d.<\/p>\n
McCartney said council field staff had noticed \u201cseveral lakes\u201d in the area, including Dudding Lake and Lake Herbert, reached low levels in recent months and years.<\/p>\n
Horizons believed the main issue at Pukepuke was a \u201clack of water\u201d rather than historically poor water quality with high levels of nitrogen, but council was currently gathering all available information on \u201cthe historical regularity\u201d of such events at Pukepuke.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson from MDC said they acknowledged the significance the lagoon held for Rangit\u0101ne and respected any decisions made would be led by local iwi, hap\u016b and DOC.<\/p>\n
A Facebook post by the Rangit\u0101ne settlement trust last Friday announced the shocking scenes and called residents to a Saturday mobilisation in collaboration with Ng\u0101ti Apa, Ng\u0101 hap\u016b o Himatangi and Ng\u0101ti Raukawa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tuna need us immediately,\u201d the post said.<\/p>\n
A rahui was placed, karakia was sung, and eels were removed on Saturday with whan\u0101u and a handful of Horizons and DOC representatives.<\/p>\n
Previously Pukepuke Lagoon was only accessible to members of the public who obtained a DOC permit. Permits would now only be given to those conducting investigations or helping to \u201cundertake fish salvage\u201d.<\/p>\n
Prior to European settler farming and draining of the Pukepuke Lagoon, it was roughly 162 hectares. From 1910 to 1930s it was down to roughly 49ha, and since 1940 it had sat at around 15ha.<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Rebecca Hogan An investigation has been launched after thousands of eels and other aquatic life were found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-610790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}