Order bans dams on Nevis River

BY GRANT BRYANT

Hydro-electric dams will be banned on the Nevis River after amendments to a Water Conservation Order were made by a special tribunal appointed by the Environment Ministry.

The amendments were signed-off on August 5, but only made public yesterday.

The tribunal agreed to prohibit dams in order to protect the extremely rare native fish species Gollum galaxiid, or Gollum.

The ban on dams stretches from the Nevis Crossing to its confluence with the Kawarau River, and the Nevis main stream above the Nevis Crossing to the river's source.

The New Zealand and Otago Fish and Game councils applied to prohibit damming the Nevis in 2006.

Pioneer Generation, which owns the lease on Ben Nevis and Craigroy stations in the Nevis Valley, has plans for a 45-megawatt, $100 million power scheme on the river which could involve flooding 8km of the river.

Asset manager Peter Mulvihill said the company had not yet absorbed the decision. No decision had been made on a possible appeal.

Otago Fish and Game Council chief executive Niall Watson said he was very pleased with the decision.

"The prohibition on damming is what we felt was appropriate.

"It recognises native fish values as well as trout fishing, kayaking, and wild and scenic landscape values that it had already recognised. The amendments mean the Water Conservation Order has been brought up to date, and provides a level of protection to the river that hasn't been there in the past."

The amendments were also applauded by the Forest and Bird Society. The society said the decision was a win for biodiversity in the Central Otago region, and New Zealand as a whole.

Forest & Bird Otago-Southland field officer Sue Maturin called the decision "unbelievable".

"It's great news that the tribunal recognises the importance of a very special endemic fish.

"It also saves one of Central Otago's least-modified river valleys."

Freshwater ecologist Richard Allibone, who gave evidence for Fish & Game at the tribunal hearing, said the fish could only be found in the Nevis River.

However, there were related species in parts of Otago, Southland and Stewart Island.

"If you muck it up, that's it, it's gone."

The tribunal's decision is thought to be the first time an indigenous fish has been identified as an "outstanding characteristic" of such an order.

- © Fairfax NZ News