Talking Point: Let's return pātiki to the Ngaruroro

Hawke's Bay Regional Council chairman Rick Barker.

OPINION
A friend of mine whose family has lived near the Ngaruroro River for generations told me a story that sums up the state of the environment, and epitomises how far our environment has degraded.

As a boy, he and his father collected pātiki (yellowbelly flounder) from the bed of the Ngaruroro River. He can't do this any more. They are gone.

I feel sad for him and I feel sad for all of us.

Our environment has been steadily degraded over successive generations and this is without question. Restoring our environment is a must-do and our biggest challenge.

It's simple - all agree we should be able to collect pātiki from our rivers in the future. We need to restore our rivers so fish are abundant and people can swim. Our land should be nourished and protected.

Our mountains, productive land, water, and sea are natural phenomena that we are dependent on and need to protect.

I think as a community we are on the same page about our direction of travel. The only issue is the rate and pace of change.

At the regional council we view the environmental challenges for Hawke's Bay through three critical elements – climate change, water for the environment and people, and biodiversity. All of these are interlinked.

Doing nothing in any of these areas is not an option. However, we can make critical changes bit by bit that will make a big difference over time.

One of the biggest issues impacting the health of our rivers, estuaries and marine areas is sedimentation. Erosion is a natural process, yet we humans have accelerated the rate of erosion.

Sediment reduces what river channels can carry during floods, harms native species, and makes recreational activities unsafe and unpleasant.

What are we doing? Since 2018, through a combination of fencing and planting and in partnership with landowners and the community, the regional council has protected 117km of our region's waterways with 319km of fencing.

In total, 2929ha of land has been protected through our Erosion Control Scheme.

In addition, 600,000 natives have been planted and 63,473 poplar and willow poles and other exotics for erosion control.

We have invested millions of dollars in mitigation, employed more staff, planted trees, put up fences and worked with individuals and communities to take better care of our environment.

Since 2015, we have been working with landowners to manage freshwater-quality issues through farm planning, education and promoting good management practice, as well as resource consents in sub-catchments where water quality has degraded to below an acceptable level.

This is a snapshot of some of our work – there is more, much more, that we are doing.

In the coming weeks we are coming to a community hall or marae near you because we want to hear from you - our community - about the environmental issues you care about.

We have got to the point of needing to develop a single plan that encompasses the whole environment – air, land, sea, freshwater – to combat climate change and restore our region. This is called the Kotahi Plan.

To understand what we need to do – and ensure that our precious taonga of water, land and biodiversity stays healthy in the years to come – we need science.

Our scientists and monitoring team have spent tens of thousands of hours to pull together environmental data and create our three-yearly State of the Environment report.

We will use this data to help inform our discussions with the community as we develop the Kotahi plan.

We want to hear your views about our waterways, birdlife, land and sea, and for you to be part of our journey to a healthier future.

We can restore pātiki to the Ngaruroro River, and all our rivers, but we all need to help. Let's work together to create an environment that will be our gift to future generations and let's make this the best gift we can give.

To find out more about our Kotahi Plan meetings, go to hbrc.govt.nz, search #kotahi

To find out more about our State of the Environment report, go to hbrc.govt.nz, search #soe

• Rick Barker is Hawke's Bay Regional Council chairman. He is not seeking re-election at this year's Local Body Elections.