<\/p>\n
\nWeed washed up at the Rotorua lakefront.
\nPhoto: LDR \/ Ben Fraser\n<\/p>\n
A funding battle is brewing over lake weed control in Rotorua as the three-week, 780-tonne clean-up of the latest stinky stranding in Lake Rotorua wraps up.<\/p>\n
Local environmental leaders argue there is a disparity in Crown funding compared with Otago and Rotorua needs more, but the responsible agency said the South Island region gets more for good reasons.<\/p>\n
A storm on 12 November caused masses of weed from the CBD-sized bed on the bottom of Lake Rotorua to detach, surface and collect on the foreshore.<\/p>\n
A total of 780 tonnes of material was removed, according to Rotorua Lakes Council.<\/p>\n
However, not before the rotting weed created a significant smell that disrupted local businesses and oxygen-depleted waters led to hundreds of dead fish.<\/p>\n
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council began removing the weed from the water on 14 November and the Rotorua council disposed of it.<\/p>\n
An initial estimate put the timeframe for the clean-up at 10 days, but the scale of the work and weather delays meant the operation only wrapped up last Friday, three weeks after work began.<\/p>\n
Neither council could confirm the final cost of the clean-up operation yet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nDead fish washing up as a result of lake weed.
\nPhoto: LDR \/ Ben Fraser\n<\/p>\n
A 2022 wash-up cost ratepayers $35,000 to clean up.<\/p>\n
Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) is the Crown entity responsible for lake weed management across New Zealand. It contributed $350,000 to control efforts within the Rotorua Te Arawa lakes this season.<\/p>\n
Te Arawa Lakes Trust oversees 14 lakes and performs weed control duties.<\/p>\n
Trust environment manager William Anaru told Local Democracy Reporting funding levels were “nowhere near enough” to find a solution to recurring stranding issues.<\/p>\n
“For Lake Rotorua, you are talking probably needing over $1 million a year,” Anaru said.<\/p>\n
“The realistic money figure needed to actually control weeds across all the lakes is in the tens of millions of dollars a year, not hundreds of thousands.”<\/p>\n
Water conditions left Lake Rotorua unsuitable for spraying this season and budget restrictions meant the trust focused its efforts on areas of potential lake-to-lake spread, recreational activity and cultural significance.<\/p>\n
Anaru said he believed Rotorua was not getting its fair share in the fight against invasive weeds.<\/p>\n
“All central government agencies are constrained at the moment,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nRemoval of lake weed at Rotorua Lakefront.
\nPhoto: LDR \/ Ben Fraser\n<\/p>\n
“But there does seem to be an inequitable spend between what we get and what Lake W\u0101naka gets, for example.”<\/p>\n
LINZ provided $1m to Otago this control season to eliminate weed from Lakes W\u0101naka, Dunstan and Whakatipu and the Kawarau River. Canterbury received $224,000 for its three lakes, and Waikato was given $40,000 for control efforts at Lake Karapiro.<\/p>\n
Bay of Plenty Regional Council Rotorua catchments manager Helen Creagh warned wash-up clean-up costs would continue to be the responsibility of councils.<\/p>\n
“There is more than 300ha of lakeweed beds alone within Lake Rotorua and current investment by Linz is not sufficient to reduce the size of the weed beds,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Until investment by LINZ is increased to reduce the size of the weed beds we expect these wash-ups will continue.”<\/p>\n
Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell labelled the regional funding disparity “favouritism” in a social media post last month and has co-signed a letter to Land Information Minister Chris Penk with Bay of Plenty Regional Council chairwoman Matemoana McDonald seeking urgent government support.<\/p>\n
The letter raised concerns the situation was costly, lacked a long-term solution and was detrimental to local businesses and amenities. It highlighted the funding gap between Rotorua and lakes in Otago, such as Lake W\u0101naka.<\/p>\n
Effective weed management is a Crown obligation under the Te Arawa Settlement Act 2006, the letter read, with Penk urged to review funding and support.<\/p>\n
LINZ deputy head of Crown property Tracey Burton said funding decisions were based on multiple factors, including cultural and recreational impact, potential spread and the likelihood of success.<\/p>\n
Otago’s lakes were prioritised because weed was less prevalent, making prevention more urgent, she said.<\/p>\n
“In the North Island, where multiple invasive species are already widespread, eradication is often not possible,” Burton said.<\/p>\n
“Efforts focus on reducing their impact on the community and lake users.”<\/p>\n
By comparison, lake weed was less established in the southern lakes, said Burton.<\/p>\n
“Here, our approach is about prevention and protecting surrounding weed-free lakes from infestation.”<\/p>\n
The size and infrastructure importance of Otago’s lakes also played a factor, said Burton.<\/p>\n
“Lake Whakatipu is roughly the size of all the Rotorua lakes combined, and several support hydroelectric generation, making weed control essential to avoid disruptions to critical infrastructure,” she said.<\/p>\n
Hydroelectricity providers regularly contributed funding to “help minimise” weed impact.<\/p>\n
LINZ had increased weed control funding for Rotorua’s lakes by 40 percent since 2019, she said.<\/p>\n
Anaru said funding was increasing but has begun to decline again. He said he will not stop advocating for more funding to clean Rotorua’s lakes of the invasive pest species.<\/p>\n
“Controlling the weed is probably the best thing we could do, as well as improving water quality, to restore the habitat for native species,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Our goal is to restore our taonga back to what they used to be.”<\/p>\n
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Weed washed up at the Rotorua lakefront. Photo: LDR \/ Ben Fraser A funding battle is brewing over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-178945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}