DOC deal to aid tern recovery
BY PENNY WARDLE
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Black-fronted terns breeding on the Wairau River are in trouble with or without TrustPower's proposed hydro scheme, the Department of Conservation says, following claims by Fish & Game that DOC was "diddled" in a deal with the electricity generation company.
In September, DOC announced it had reached agreement with TrustPower and would withdraw its appeal to the energy generation company being granted resource consent to build a hydro scheme on the Wairau.
Nelson Marlborough Fish & Game manager Neil Deans claimed the agreement was a watered-down version of conditions already set by the Marlborough District Council-appointed commissioners that granted the consent last August.
Department of Conservation Nelson Marlborough conservator Neil Clifton said conditions set by the commissioners required TrustPower to manage predators and monitor birds for five years once the scheme was built.
If it could then be proved that the scheme had caused a biologically significant decline in tern numbers, more predator control would be required.
"It was true there was no cap on expenditure," Mr Clifton said.
"But effectively, the condition required TrustPower to control predators for only five years because it would be difficult to prove that an ongoing decline in bird numbers directly resulted from the scheme."
Also, the conditions did not provide for DOC to be directly involved in the design, oversight and implementation of the programmes, he said.
Joint research carried out by DOC and TrustPower over the past four seasons confirmed river bird populations were not increasing.
Predation by harrier hawks was greater than predation by mustelids (ferrets, stoats and weasels) and there was no proof that reduced flow over the bird-breeding season would necessarily increase bird predation due to the loss of safe islands that were inaccessible to predators.
The agreement recently reached by DOC and TrustPower provided for a more holistic and longer-term approach to managing black-fronted terns, Mr Clifton said.
There would be less emphasis on proving a direct link between the scheme and any decline in bird numbers.
Mr Clifton described the agreement as "a long-term partnership between DOC and TrustPower, funded by TrustPower, to enhance black-fronted tern survival over the whole river."
Both parties had made a 35-year commitment – the term of the scheme consent – to long-term management of the birds, not just in the affected reach but over the whole Wairau catchment, he said.
The electricity generation company would provide $3 million (inflation adjusted) over the 35 years; a sum determined by DOC based on a similar tern-recovery programme on the Tasman River.
If, once the sum was spent, it was apparent there was a decline in bird numbers likely to have been caused by the scheme, TrustPower would commit a further $1m.
"DOC is charged with protecting endangered species and agreements such as the one reached with TrustPower are a means of achieving this," Mr Clifton said.
- The Marlborough Express
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