Otago Fish & Game chief executive Niall Watson wrote a letter to Environment Minister David Parker in December about the transition from historical privileges to Resource Management Act (RMA) consents.
Under the RMA, the historical privileges, which date to the 1860s gold rush, need to be replaced by resource consents by October 2021.
Mr Watson said there was poor-quality supporting information on replacement consents.
"I believe it is important that the situation is closely monitored by government to ensure the original intent of the 1991 law change is not thwarted by poor-quality decisions that fail to restore adequate environmental flows to Central Otago rivers."
In his response, the minister agreed there was an opportunity to achieve a more sustainable outcome for Otago rivers, but thought the consent process could create community divisions if farmers felt their livelihoods would be threatened by reduced access to irrigation water.
"My officials inform me that policy staff at the Otago Regional Council believe that their regional plan ... provides them with the policy framework necessary for processing and granting new resource consents for water."
Mr Parker said he would like to meet Otago Fish & Game and the regional council to discuss the transition to consents.
At the Otago Fish & Game Council meeting last week in Roxburgh, Mr Watson said he was happy Mr Parker would discuss the issue but the regional council was "well behind" in terms of a mining privileges policy framework. He said the regional council’s measure of adverse environmental effects was not clear; the relationship between minimum and residual flows was difficult to understand; the council did not manage the notifying of affected parties well; and it put little weight on cumulative water takes.
In response to Mr Watson’s concerns, regional council director of policy planning and resource management Tanya Winter said a plan change was under way to clarify the relationship between minimum and residual flows. The regional council held meetings with consent holders to notify them they needed the approval of statutory parties — iwi, the Department of Conservation and Fish & Game. Sometimes they did not need the approval of all three, depending on environmental conditions.
