Minimum-flow level opposed

Niall Watson
Niall Watson
A large number of fish will die each year if the Otago Regional Council goes ahead with its proposed minimum flow for the Lindis River, Otago Fish and Game says.

The regional council is proposing a minimum flow of 450 litres per second under a 5A plan change that would limit water takes from the river and the Bendigo-Tarras Basin's aquifers.

Fish and Game chief executive Niall Watson said the proposal was inadequate and did not provide for the river's aquatic ecosystem, fishery and amenity values.

''The river ecosystem and the Central Otago environment will be the big losers and large numbers of fish will continue to die on an annual basis.''

Fish and Game wanted a minimum flow of more than double that proposed, to ensure the river flowed all year to the Clutha. At present, it goes dry most summers.

While the regional council believed the lower minimum flow would enable fish to live in refuge pools during dry periods, Fish and Game said survey work showed that did not work in practice because the river became a hostile environment and the fish had nowhere to go.

''When the river gets very low there are high levels of fish mortality, both juvenile trout and native bullies, from high water temperatures, predation and strandings.''

Fish and Game considered the river to be an important trout spawning and juvenile rearing tributary for the Upper Clutha and Lake Dunstan. ''It is a very popular camping and picnicking area over the summer holiday period but amenity values are lost when the river dries up.''

The regional council had said increasing the river's flows any further would ''severely constrain'' those further up with no other water source.

Fish and Game believed those irrigators needed to look for alternatives so there was more balance between public and private interests.

The regional council was consulting affected parties this month before putting out the plan change for public consultation next month.

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