KAIKOHE - Trustees of a weed-choked Northland lake and their agent will meet three cabinet ministers in Wellington tomorrow to try to convince the Government it must take responsibility for preserving Lake Omapere.
The shallow 1200ha lake, just north of Kaikohe, is being choked by thousands of tonnes of oxygen weed.
Its Maori trustees fear it will turn into a toxic algal-soup unless funding for more weed-eating grass carp fish is made available.
An initial release of 8000 carp into the lake in August - mostly paid for by the lake's trust board - has not been enough to make a significant difference.
Tomorrow's meeting will seek funding for more carp and a commitment from the Ministers of Conservation, Environment and Maori Affairs to a Government-backed programme to restore water health to the lake.
An earlier request for $3 million for more fish, resources and a management strategy to save the lake was declined.
"If nothing is done, weed will take over and the lake will die," trustees' agent Gray Jamieson said.
"Thousands of fish and birds will die, toxic algae will flourish and the dead lake will become a serious health risk."
Further Government inaction and delay would add only more costs. Restoring a dead lake could cost two or three times as much as the cost of funding more grass carp to save it, he said.
The trustees have vowed to continue their efforts to save the lake regardless of the outcome of tomorrow's meeting.
"If the worst comes to the worst, we'll persist even more to revive the lake," trust chairman Wallace Wihongi said.
The Maori trustees own the lake bed, and if its water is cleaned up, the source may again become a water supply for Kaikohe.
Trustees put lake's plight to ministers
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