Proposed Amendments to LWRP Schedule 17: Salmon Spawning Sites
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Memo Date 28 May 2019 To Environment Canterbury Planning Team CC From Jarred Arthur (Scientist – Water Quality and Ecology) Proposed amendments to LWRP Schedule 17: Salmon Spawning Sites Purpose The Land and Water Regional Plan (LWRP) outlines several policies and rules that control activities in and adjacent to salmon spawning habitats of high value. These 32 ‘significant’ salmon spawning sites are listed in Schedule 17 of the plan. The advent of new spawning information means that Schedule 17 does not recognise a number of spawning sites important to maintaining Canterbury’s internationally recognised salmon fishery. The following memo is prepared by the Environment Canterbury science team with support from the Central South Island and North Canterbury Fish and Game councils. It outlines a proposal to amend Schedule 17 of the LWRP including: • adding 31 new sites; o 22 established from new Fish and Game spawning habitat data and information. o nine situated in the Waimakariri River Catchment currently excluded from the current schedule due to the Waimakariri River Regional Plan (WRRP) controlling land and water activities in these areas. • updates to three site descriptions and coordinates for existing Schedule 17 sites – proposed change in length/area of the existing sites; • updates to ten site descriptions and coordinates for existing Schedule 17 sites – no resultant change in length/area of the existing sites; and • a revision of the LWRP Planning Maps to show the proposed amendments to existing spawning sites and newly recommended spawning sites. Background Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are largely confined to Canterbury with only small populations found in Otago, the West Coast and Marlborough (Unwin, 2006). The region attracts large numbers of anglers due to its salmon runs, easy access to rivers, affordability to fish, landscape values and diverse angling experience. For these reasons, Canterbury’s chinook salmon fishery is highly valued not only locally, but nationally too (Unwin, 2006). Sockeye salmon (O. nerka), by contrast, are far less common and restricted to the upper Waitaki River catchment. This is the only self-sustaining population of sockeye salmon in the Southern Hemisphere (Couper, 2018) with populations currently present in the catchments of lakes Pukaki, Ohau, Ruataniwha, Benmore, Aviemore, and Waitaki. While New Zealand’s Chinook salmon are migratory and spend much of their adult life at sea, sockeye salmon are landlocked and occur only as freshwater residents. Both species lay their eggs in redds excavated by spawning fish in the clean, loose gravels of streams, rivers and occasionally lake margins. Many spawning sites are situated in smaller high-country spring- fed waterways, but spawning activity also occurs in the mainstems of larger rivers and in high quality lowland freshwater habitats. The protection of habitats where salmon spawn is critical to ensuring the maintenance of healthy, productive salmon populations and the sports fisheries they support. Land and Water Regional Plan Intensive land uses (e.g. heavy stocking), activities in the beds of rivers (e.g. contruction works and bed disturbance), and the abstraction of freshwater resources (e.g. water and gravels) places pressure on freshwater environments and the salmon spawning habitats they support. Objective 3.8 of the LWRP states: “The quality and quantity of water in fresh water bodies and their catchments is managed to safeguard the life-supporting capacity of ecosystems and ecosystem processes, including ensuring sufficient flow and quality of water to support the habitat and feeding, breeding, migratory and other behavioural requirements of indigenous species, nesting birds and, where appropriate, trout and salmon.” The LWRP has one policy and several region-wide rules that make direct reference to Schedule 17 areas where salmon spawn in the Canterbury region. These provisions refer to specific salmon spawning sites identified as significant under Schedule 17 of the plan (Appendix 2). Development of Schedule 17 The majority of listed salmon spawning sites in Schedule 17 were carried over from Schedule WQN14 in Chapter 5 of the now superseded Natural Resources Regional Plan (NRRP). An initial draft of Schedule WQN14 of the proposed NRRP was founded based on an assessment of salmonid (trout and salmon) habitats in Canterbury by Langlands and Elley (2000). With the help of Fish and Game New Zealand (FGNZ), Langlands and Elley (2000) analysed a variety of data sources to create an exhaustive inventory of 523 salmonid sites. Each site was categorised by species and habitat use/type (e.g. spawning, rearing), and ranked by habitat value (low-high). Overall, 184 sites were identified as being valuable for salmon spawning (Unwin, 2006), 39 of which were considered as high value and compiled into a list. Following advice from North Canterbury Fish and Game (NCFG), Environment Canterbury internally reviewed the list of high value sites (ECan, 2004). The list was then used as a draft of Schedule WQN14, which contained salmon spawning habitats of importance for inclusion in the proposed NRRP (i.e. draft Schedule WQN14). Page 2 of 77 For the purpose of developing a regional planning framework, Environment Canterbury defined a ‘significant’ spawning site as sites of national or regional importance to maintaining the regional salmon fishery. As such, the Langlands and Elley (2000) report, and therefore draft Schedule WQN14, contained a number of shortcomings as identified by Unwin (2006). Spawning sites were ranked solely on habitat value without reference to the angling value of the corresponding rivers or catchments they supported. This resulted in anomalies such as sites located in catchments with limited angling value being ranked above those which were of secondary habitat importance but situated in a major fishery (e.g. the Rakaia or Waimakariri rivers). Not all stream segments identified by Langlands and Elley (2000) as being highly valuable were selected entirely for the purpose of salmon spawning. In this case, salmon spawning habitat sometimes only comprised a subset of an entire site segment, whereas other salmonid species (e.g. brown trout) inhabited the remaining area. Some waterbodies identified were used by salmon in more of an opportunistic manner only when favourable conditions occur and are therefore not necessarily significant in regional or national context (Unwin, 2006). Prior to the finalising the draft of Schedule WQN14 of the NRRP, Environment Canterbury commissioned Unwin (2006) to “critically review the list of salmon spawning sites in Schedule WQN14, and prepare a list of significant spawning sites that are essential to maintain the salmon fishery in the Canterbury Region”. To achieve this, Unwin (2006) focused on reviewing four key pieces of information: • the Langlands and Elley (2000) habitat database; • FGNZ documents detailing the most recent spawning surveys at the time; • databases on the angling usage of New Zealand rivers and lakes collected by FGNZ, NIWA and/or the predecessors of these two agencies; and, • recapture data of hatchery salmon after their return to freshwater from 2-3 years at sea. Unwin’s (2006) review identified 48 significant salmon spawning sites, 34 of which were incorporated into the final version of Schedule WQN14 in the NRRP. Exceptions were several sites located in the Waimakariri, Rakaia and Ashburton/Hakatere river catchments (the reasons for which are explained later in the report). More recently, most of the Schedule WQN14 sites were adopted into Schedule 17 of the LWRP. Existing salmon spawning sites in Schedule 17 Schedule 17 identifies 32 significant salmon spawning sites essential to maintaining the salmon fishery in Canterbury. In comparison, Unwin (2006) lists a total of 48 significant sites, while Schedule WQN14 of the NRRP identified 34. This highlights gaps in Schedule 17 with sites missing. In addition, it has become apparent that some sites are incorrectly described or referenced. Page 3 of 77 The most notable exclusion from Schedule 17 are those sites situated in the Waimakariri River catchment, which is a river regarded as a nationally important salmon fishery (Unwin, 2006). An Environment Canterbury (2004) Section 32 report on the proposed NRRP states: “The Waimakariri sites were not listed because the rules that apply there are either in the separate Transitional River Regional Plan or in the Proposed Waimakariri River Regional Plan”. For this reason, ten Waimakariri River catchment salmon spawning sites were not adopted from Unwin (2006) into Schedule WQN14, or later into Schedule 17. The absence of Unwin (2006) sites from other catchments include tributaries of the Hurunui, Rakaia and Ashburton/Hakatere rivers. The Hurunui River North Branch and Landslip Creek were removed from Schedule 17 during the shift from the NRRP to the LWRP, however both sites remain protected as significant salmon spawning sites in Schedule 5 of the Hurunui-Waiau River Regional Plan (HWRRP) (ECan, 2013). Montrose Creek, a hatchery site in the Rakaia River, was never included in either Schedules WQN14 or 17. Three Ashburton/Hakatere catchment sites were removed from Schedule WQN14 in response to public submissions during the NRRP hearing process (ECan, 2010). In summary, Schedule 17 of the LWRP now contains 16 fewer sites than that originally listed in Unwin (2006). More detail on why sites were removed from relevant salmon spawning schedules is outlined in further sections