It cost the Ashburton District Council $998 plus GST to remove the double-sided tape and cardboard attached to the statue last month after activists from the organisation put the items there to protest the dairy industry.
Greenpeace agriculture campaigner Sinead Deighton-O’Flynn said she could not say whether Greenpeace would refund the amount to the district council.
"That would be a dialogue between us and the council, and they haven’t contacted us about it," Deighton-O’Flynn said.
District council group manager of community and open spaces, Toni Durham, said the council expected Greenpeace would "do the right thing by our community and cover the cost and time of rectifying their actions".
However, in the first instance the district council was waiting for the police to conclude their investigation into the defacement.
"If that doesn’t result in reparation, we’ll be contacting Greenpeace."
A police spokesperson said earlier this week that inquiries into the defacement of the statue were continuing.
"There are no further updates to provide," the spokesperson said.
Greenpeace sparked fury in the riverside town when the statue was defaced with a white circle with a cross over its eye to give the appearance of a cartoon dead fish.
A speech bubble on one of the fins said ‘‘Fonterra killed my family’’, conveying Greenpeace’s message that dairying is draining the river dry.
The salmon statue had just received an almost $300,000 makeover, including a fresh coat of paint, before the incident.
