Special Tribunals Report on the Nevis River.
The Ministry for the Environment (MAE) has today released the Special Tribunal's report on the application for an amendment to the Water Conservation 'Kawarau' Order 1997.
The report outlines each of the major submitters and the cases they put forward. Changes in kayaking technology and paddler's skill-sets since the initial WCO was put in place were considered but deemed to be irrevelant, in reference to this the report states that "as well reasoned as that analysis may be, the major difficulty is that all of those features were known at the time of the original WCO and neither the changes in technology nor the upskilling of kayakers are factors of or directly related to the river itself."
Instead the saving grace for this amazing section of river is in fact the 'Smeagol' an informal name for a distinct species of small native fish that is officially described as Galaxias gollumoides. The tribunal acknowledge that this tiny fish hadn't been identified during the initial WCO hearings, and the species has since been identified as unique to the Nevis valley. Inundation of land through damming could potentially cause the extinction of the entire species, therefore placing the Gollum Galaxiid over the 'outstanding characteristics' threshold.
The tribunal has therefore put forward to the Minister for the Environment that the existing WCO be amended to remove the provision for dams in relation to the outstanding value of the Gollum galaxiid.
All submitters to the initial hearing now have a right to place a further submission with the enviroment court in regards to the report. The Minister for the Environment can then put the WCO forward to the Governor-General to be made an order in-council.
To view the full report - Application to vary Water Conservation Order Kawarau 1997 Special Tribunal Report.
A big thank you to everyone who submitted, presented and got involved with this process, a special mention to Glenn Murdoch, Maree Baker, Whitewater NZ, Wild Rivers, and NZ Fish & Game.
Thun, Switzerland - The 2009 Freestyle World Championships are underway and the bar has been set high early on.
