Concern over Homebush eels

The environmental manager of Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa made a presentation to Masterton District Council on Wednesday where he spoke about the rehoming of an estimated 85,000 eels and explained the importance of the eels' significance to Wairarapa Maori.

Ra Smith told councillors that preserving the eels was very important to the Maori organisation. He said they had been working closely with the council to ensure that their impending move could run smoothly and the eels could be looked after in an "emergency situation".

There has been numerous discussions in recent months about the relocation of the eels in Masterton's Homebush sewage ponds following a multi-million dollar upgrade. It was previously reported that the council expected the inflows from the old ponds to be diverted to the new ponds in April.

In February councillors agreed to support five out of six recommendations presented to them at a policy and finance committee meeting. The options included installing an eel ladder, or coarse matting, and a connecting pipe between the ponds, and a fall back option of trapping and transferring the eels, potentially to a new location if the new ponds were an unsuitable environment. The costs ranged from from estimates of $12,000 to $35,000.

Councillors supported the idea in principle, that they would consider trapping and relocating the eels to other locations at a cost of $35,000 if required.

Mr Smith said there were a number of factors which the group were concerned about but he said he was confident that Masterton District Council could meet those challenges. "These obligations when changing waterways and the effect on fauna are important. We have every faith that the council can look after that," he said. "We had some concerns about the eels moving naturally. We understand the major priority of the sewage plant is treating effluent, it's not to save eels."

The environmental manager said that planning for an emergency situation was also something which was very important. "[We think] we need to plan for reasonable possibilities if it didn't work moving the eels from the old pond to the new pond.

"We don't want a situation where the eels are out in a location where they don't have enough food," he said. "What we want to do is plan ahead of any potential emergency situation."

Mr Smith asked the council about emergency funding, if needed. Mayor Garry Daniell told Mr Smith that the council would respond should anything arise.