Birds plundering Chinese Garden fish

Some rather fishy business at Dunedin's Chinese Garden has left the City Council floundering to protect one of its investments.

Dunedin City Council Community and Recreation Services manager Mick Reece said the council was investigating ways to deter birds from the garden after all of the nearly 400 goldfish released in the garden's pond last year had been eaten by feathered intruders.

An additional 140 fish were released in the pond at the beginning of August, Mr Reece said.
On a visit to the garden last week however, none were visible.

‘‘From what I understand it's mainly shags and black backed gulls who are offending,'' Mr Reece said.

‘‘We know that this is always going to be an ongoing problem but we're determined not to give up at this stage.

The fish have been identified as an important part of the garden both culturally and aesthetically and we want to retain that.''

Mr Reece said the DCC has spent about $5000 on fish for the garden since opening last year.

‘‘Some of the older, bigger fish can be major purchases costing upwards of $35 to $45 each.

‘‘Hopefully we can get something in place which is effective in protecting that investment.''

‘‘The pond is only about 4ft or 5ft deep and we know we need to get some more plants in there to provide the fish with shelter, but the garden is only a year old and the plants haven't had time to really take off yet.''