Northland Regional Council, the Department of Conservation and tangata whenua have teamed up to keep gold clam out of the Kai Iwi Lakes. NRC member Jack Craw says gold clams, first detected in the Waikato River in May last year, are a significant biosecurity threat. They are an issue because they compete with native species for food, and can clog water-based infrastructure, including electric generation facilities, irrigation systems and water treatment plants. Under Kaipara District Council’s Taharoa Domain Bylaw 2018 the owner or master of a vessel or power-driven vessel can be denied access to the lakes if they refuse to undertake a biosecurity check.
Retailers selling to minors
Northland retailers have been caught selling tobacco and vaping products to minors. Controlled purchase operations (CPOs) carried out by Health NZ in October, November and December resulted in 15 sales of cigarettes or vaping products to minors. A CPO is a compliance measure that ensures tobacco and vape retailers are actively checking their customers are 18 years of age or over. Forty-eight retail outlets were visited across the Whangārei, Kaipara and Far North districts by trained volunteers. Health NZ spokesman Gavin de Klerk says it was a shockingly high failure rate.
Council on water watch
The Northland Regional Council [NRC] is keeping an eye on water levels as summer heats up and parts of Northland are already under initial water restrictions. In the Far North district, level 2 water restrictions (which ban the use of outdoor sprinklers or irrigation systems) already apply to households in Kawakawa-Moerewa, Ōmanaia-Rāwene and Ōpononi-Ōmāpere to help preserve water. Level 2 water restrictions are also in place for Baylys Beach and Dargaville in the Kaipara district. NRC chairman Geoff Crawford says NRC’s last hydrology climate report advised that Northland is already in a moderate level of ‘meteorological drought’ (low rainfall) and a low level of hydrological drought (low river flows, groundwater levels, and reservoir levels).
