By TONY GEE
KAIKOHE - The Maori trustees of Lake Omapere, north of Kaikohe, have finally won permission to start releasing thousands of herbivorous grass carp into the weed-infested lake.
The first release of 2000 mature weed-eating carp is planned for noon on Monday.
Further batches of 2000 fish will be released on each of the following three days to make 8000 in the lake's waters by late next week.
Approval for the carp release, to control rampant oxygen weed growth, has been given by Conservation Minister Sandra Lee after sustained efforts over several years by the Lake Omapere Trust Board and its agent, NZ Water Management director Gray Jamieson.
The fish will be trucked north from Wellington and Warkworth for next week's release.
The smallest are 35cm long and weigh about 1kg.
Mr Jamieson said yesterday that the Department of Conservation still sought a full environmental impact report before it would agree to the proposed release of up to 100,000 carp fingerlings into the 1200ha lake.
Work had already been done on this, however, and any further delay would spell disaster for the lake.
Once the adult fish had been released, the issue became the responsibility of the Ministry of Fisheries and he and the trustees planned to meet its officials next week to discuss the release of nine-month-old fingerlings, described as "already herbivorous."
"There's about 45,000 tonnes of weed in the lake so they're not going to run out of food.
"If we can get a full release of adult fish and fingerlings, we should be able to make an impact on the weed by the end of the coming summer and stop the algal bloom flowering," said Mr Jamieson.
Between them, the lake board and Mr Jamieson's company will put up $200,000 to pay for the 8000 adult carp.
Government funding is still being sought to help pay for costs involved in a wider lake restoration and management project.
Release of carp can start
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