Bay of Plenty Regional Council began skimming the weed on November 14, with Rotorua Lakes Council managing disposal. A job initially expected to take 10 days stretched to three weeks because of the scale of the task and weather delays.<\/p>\n
Rotorua Lakes Council contributed $67,443 to the clean-up, while the regional council spent $66,000. <\/p>\n
By comparison, clearing a 2022 wash-up cost about $35,000.<\/p>\n
Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Rotorua Lakes Council worked together on the removal of lake weed washed up at Rotorua Lakefront. Photo \/ Ben Fraser<\/p>\n
Lake weed is managed using funding from Land Information New Zealand (Linz).<\/p>\n
The Crown entity contributed $350,000 to Rotorua Te Arawa lakes this season, while allocating $1 million to Otago.<\/p>\n
Te Arawa Lakes Trust oversees 14 lakes and performs weed control duties for Lake Rotorua. <\/p>\n
Trust environment manager William Anaru told Local Democracy Reporting last month that a solution for Lake Rotorua would likely cost more than $1m a year.<\/p>\n
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell called the funding disparity \u201cgrossly unfair\u201d and last month co-signed a letter with the regional council\u2019s chairwoman, Matemoana McDonald, to Land Information Minister Chris Penk seeking urgent Government support.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur message is clear: Rotorua lakes need fair funding from Government to address significant lake weed issues,\u201d Tapsell told Local Democracy Reporting. <\/p>\n
She said councils, iwi and local communities had spent years developing solutions, but funding remained inadequate.<\/p>\n
Tapsell warned recurring wash-ups were damaging for residents, businesses and visitors <\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t stop advocating until an appropriate solution is in place to protect Rotorua\u2019s environment, reputation and economy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Regional council biosecurity team leader Te Wakaunua Te Kurapa described current funding as \u201cinsufficient\u201d. <\/p>\n
Weed washed up at Rotorua Lakefront after wild weather in November. Photo \/ Ben Fraser<\/p>\n
Despite repeated attempts to raise concerns with Linz, he said the agency was \u201cnot fulfilling its obligations\u201d under the Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Act.<\/p>\n
Linz representatives previously stated that southern lakes are prioritised as eradication is often unlikely elsewhere, where invasive weed is widespread. Efforts instead focused on impact reduction rather than eradication.<\/p>\n
Te Kurapa disagreed. \u201cWith the right investment and resources, large-scale weed control can be achieved,\u201d he said, citing a business case established last August.<\/p>\n
Penk said he was \u201cactively reviewing\u201d funding arrangements and lake weed costs compared to other regions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will provide perspective on the expense Rotorua has had to meet,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He said that as discussions remain underway he could not rule anything \u201cin or out\u201d regarding changes in support, but recognised the cost of the clean-up and its impact on the community. <\/p>\n
Land Information Minister Chris Penk says he is \u201cactively reviewing\u201d funding for lake weed costs. Photo \/ Annaleise Shortland<\/p>\n
\u201cI have heard clearly the community\u2019s frustration over the impact of lake weeds on Rotorua,\u201d Penk said. <\/p>\n
He was hopeful of meeting with Tapsell to discuss the issue now the summer break was over.<\/p>\n
Linz biosecurity leader Tracey Burton said several control methods for lake weed are used, but no single approach works in all conditions.<\/p>\n
In agreement with the Bay of Plenty Aquatic Pest Coordination Group, herbicide was not considered to be an effective option this season, Burton said.<\/p>\n
She said Lake Rotorua\u2019s shallow profile and extensive lakebed growth make it \u201cdifficult to manage\u201d with winds, currents and turbid water all issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we understand the frustration and costs involved in clean-up efforts, these challenges highlight the importance of continued collaboration and strategic planning to manage aquatic weeds as effectively as possible with the resources available,\u201d Burton said.<\/p>\n
After November\u2019s letter, council leaders met with Linz representatives in mid-December.<\/p>\n
Burton said the meeting was \u201cproductive\u201d and all parties were \u201ccommitted to working together\u201d on control efforts. <\/p>\n
An agreement was reached on investigating modelling options for weed movement during storms to enable targeted control in the hope of reducing large wash-ups.<\/p>\n
Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.<\/p>\n
\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bay of Plenty Regional Council began skimming the weed on November 14, with Rotorua Lakes Council managing disposal.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[67300,139259,74,52132,139257,56717,4187,802,7558,738,13207,685,4507,440,15399,6722,111,43,139,69,1523,763,1327,38715,139258,60050,379],"class_list":["post-235415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-67300","tag-139259","tag-after","tag-cleaning","tag-cleanup","tag-combined","tag-cost","tag-costs","tag-councils","tag-funding","tag-lake","tag-last","tag-late","tag-local","tag-massive","tag-minister","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-reviews","tag-rotorua","tag-rotoruas","tag-washup","tag-weed","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235415","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=235415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}