Native fish at centre of hydro arguments

A native fish named Gollum will be back in the spotlight next year, at the centre of a battle over whether a hydro-electric dam could be built on the Nevis River.

The High Court ruled this week that the New Zealand and Otago Fish and Game Councils could give evidence and submissions about the fish to an Environment Court hearing.

In 2006, the fish and game councils applied to amend the Water Conservation Order on the river to prohibit damming or diversion.

About 250 submissions were received and heard by a special tribunal, set up by the Ministry for the Environment. The tribunal's finding, in 2010, was that a ban on damming was needed to protect the habitat of a native fish called Gollum galaxiids, a species found only in the Nevis.

Three parties - Pioneer Generation, the fish and game councils and Whitewater New Zealand have all challenged the tribunal's recommendations.

Pioneer Generation wanted the option left open for hydro development on the river. It has plans for a dam on the Nevis but has not yet sought resource consents for such a venture. The company holds the leases of the Nevis Valley land it needs and entered the tenure review process saying in return for freeholding the land it needed for any hydro project, it would exchange other parts of the properties to become public conservation land.

The fish and game councils wanted the river's wild and scenic landscape values and trout fishery values to be recognised as "outstanding", when the matter was reconsidered while Whitewater New Zealand wanted protection of the "nationally outstanding" whitewater kayaking amenity.

The next stage of legal proceedings is for the Environment Court to hold an inquiry and make recommendations to the Minister for the Environment.

That court hearing was on hold, pending the result of a High Court fixture in October.

Pioneer asked the High Court to prohibit the councils from presenting evidence on native fish habitat to the Environment Court, saying the "statutory functions" of the councils focused on sports fish, not native fish.

The case was heard before Justice Lester Chisholm in the High Court at Dunedin on October 26. In his reserved decision, released last week, Justice Chisholm dismissed the application.

"If the declarations sought by Pioneer are granted, Fish and Game will not be able to present evidence/submissions to the Environment Court about gollum galaxiids. Given that Doc [Department of Conservation] is adopting a neutral stance, it could follow that the Environment Court would be constrained in its ability to fully inquire into that aspect," Justice Chisholm said.

Otago Fish and Game chief executive Niall Watson said the council was delighted with the High Court decision.

It was important that all values should be considered by the Environment Court so it could be fully informed in its decision-making, he said.

Pioneer's chief executive, Fraser Jonker, said the company would "take it as it comes" and pick up the process back in the Environment Court in the new year.

"We saw this [the High Court action] as one avenue we thought we would go down and test, but I don't think we've lost anything."

lynda.van.kempen@odt.co.nz