Bryson David Clark, 62, was sentenced in the Gore District Court today for discharging scrapings, sileage leachate and effluent from his dairy farm into the Low Burn Stream, which runs into the Mataura River, resulting in the death of thousands of eels in February last year.
The court heard Clark jointly owns and runs a dairy farm in Mataura with his wife, and due largely to the overflow of the farm’s effluent pond from, there was a mass loss of aquatic life.
Among the dead animals recovered were New Zealand longfin eels, which are endemic to Aotearoa and have an “at risk” conservation status, the summary said.
At the time, Clark told council officers an alarm monitoring the overflow of the pond had been switched off a month or two earlier because it kept malfunctioning, the court heard.
In court, Te Ao Marama Inc (TAMI) representative Stevie-Rae Blair read a statement on behalf of the mana whenua of the area highlighting the “emotional, spiritual and cultural distress” Clark’s offending had caused.
She said the korero from TAMI staff who attended the scene included how “heartbreaking” it was to see so many dead tuna (eels) in such a small section of the creek.
Ms Blair described it as “one of the worst things I've ever seen or smelt or felt in my life”.
Tuna are known to be some of the “most resilient creatures” within the awa (river) and can “sustain pollution better than most other species”, she highlighted.
Judge John Hassan appeared via audio visual link and warned defence counsel there would be an enforcement order imposed by the court in sentencing the defendant.
An enforcement order is a legally binding direction issued by the Environment Court requiring a farmer to take specific actions of compliance to remedy environmental harm.
In this case, the judge said, it was to be modifications to the man’s farm such as new fencing and planting.
For the leading charge of discharging the contaminant effluent into the stream, the judge imposed a fine of $130,000.
