I"- HE POLITICAL SHENANIGANS

rrdiaij ;i"- PHOTO: BOB MCDOWALL HE POLITICAL SHENANIGANS been built above the new lake ìevel, and a lakes then planned for the Clutha River). surrounding the environmental debate and new, bustling tolvnship along the lake shores. This lvas to be a substantial and expensive j approvals for construction of the Cþe Dam The new town sits in the "V" of the lake, with hatchery, rvith grandiose plans for establish- on the Clutha River in Central Otago are arms named for the former rivers that ing a series of distinctive salmonid popula- I generally well known history. Almost as well drained through them - now the Clutha and tions in the various lakes, to be stocked with known is the vast expenditure incurred in Kawarau Arms of Lake Dunstan. ore or other of rainbow or brown trout, chi- construction works, firstly associated with When negotiations were being undertaken nook salmon, Atlantic salmon or mackinalv. building the dam, and then dealing with geo- lvith the former Electricity Corporation of Elaborate facilities were planned to provide a logical faults in the surrounding hills and sta- New Zealand, to ensure that environmental visitors' centre to cater for tolrrists. The bilising the hillsides on the shores of the for- damage resulting from constructing the dam hatchery's cost was estimated at several mil- macive lake to prevent landslides that could was minimised (or compensated for), the for- lion dollars at 1980s prices, the actual cost threaten the dam itself. Now, where there was mer Wildlife Service of the Departmen[ of depending on where the hatchery was to be once a picturesque river gorge, a fast-flowing, Internal Affairs agreed to withhold objections sited. An existing Wildlife Service hatchery tumbling rive¡ and the smaÌl old goldmining to the dam and the resulting lake on condi at Wanaka was deemed inadequate to meet town of Cromlvell nestled in the confluence of tion that a large fish hatchery would be con- thc Se rvice s ambitious plans - its \valer sup- the Clutha and Kawarau Rivers, there is a large structed at ECNZ expense to provide fish for ply insufficient and the site in close proximity lake, a few remnants of the old town that had stocking the proposed new lake (and other to Wanaka torvn and likely to be encroached 68 Fish €i Gøme Neu Zealand. lf:üii rÁ *ïnk ¡ minimised. SpecificalÌy, the belief was that Lake Dunstan would be stocked naturally by downstream movement of salmonid species already widespread and abundant in the Clutha River above the proposed dam site. Prolific brown and rainbow trout stocks pop- i¡ ulate the Clutha and Hawea Rivers, and both these species, as well as landlocked chinook salmon, also support fisheries in Lakes Wanaka, Hawea, and Wakatipu at the toP of the Clutha. It was already well known tha¡ chinook salmon emigrating from these lakes move downstream into the Clutha and find their way into Lake Roxburgh, further down the Clutha - Lake Roxburgh has long been recognised as supporting an intermittent but some- times productive fishery for landlocked chinook salmon in the summer. It was a fair assumption that the Clyde Dam would termi- nate these downstream salmon migrations and that Lake Dunstan would be the benefi- ciary - a comparable salmon fishery in Lake Dunstan seemed a likelihood. It was thought, also, that brorvn and rainbow trouc would sim- Eæantination of tlae V/ílàIle Serçice laatclaery p ropo¿ a.I p rornp te? ¿ erío u¿ ¿ cep tici¿ nL atru) ngd t fía laeríea b ío log í¿ t¿ tlaat tlaù eæpen¿e coul2t beiuatífic?. upon or surrounded by domestic housing. There were problems finding an alternative site, and there were plans at one stage to term, ònly one dam would be constructed, ilarly move down into the new lake and natural- derive water from the lower levels of Lake making recruitment into the single lake from ly establish a fishery there. So who needed a Dunstan itself and pipe it to the hatchery at upstream lakes fairly easy. Had there been a hatchery? an additional million dollar (or more) cost. seri.es of lakes in the upper Clutha valley, Otago Fish & Game Council, in whose dis- An alternative site was identified at the recruitment into the lower lakes (those more tricc the Clyde Dam was sited once t'he acclima- mouth of Wye Creek, along the eastern isolated from the source lakes and their tisation society movement was reconstrucled in shores of the southern limb of Lake Wakatipu spawning grounds) would have been more dif- the early 1990s (and which became the manag- towatds KingstoI. Here, water could be ficult, increasing the need for a hatcher¡ per- er of any salmonid fishery chat developed in piped from a small lake that feeds Wye Creek. haps. But there was also disbelief that che pro- Lake Dunstan), followed its predecessor the Examinacion of the Wildlife Service hatch- posal to maintain differenc fish stocks in the Otago Acclimatisation Society in abandoning ery proposal prompted serious scepticì.sm various planned lakes was practicable. These hatchery production and stocking as an eco- amongst fisheries biologists that this expense concerns were conveyed to government agen- nomic and sustainable way of maintaining most could be justified. The need for a major cies and interdepartmental committees that of its fisheries - apart, that is, from stocking in hatchely was certainly dented when it became were involved in planning the dam and in some small high country dams and lakes that clear that, at least in the short and medium ensuring that environmental damage u'as lack spawning tributaries. Fish {l Co me Ncu Zealand 69 N GENERAL, MOST OF THE Criticisms of the hatchery proposal and examined. Moreoveq all of this was develo¡> Acclimatisation Societiey'Fish & Game concerns being expressed about the plans ing at a time when New Zealand was being Councils throughout the country had long generated outrage among senior Wildlife "restructu¡ed" in almost every way possible by learned that stocking was unnecessary in Service administrators in Wellington, who the Labour Government ofthe late 1980s and most New Zealznd, waters and saw the accused their critics of meddling in others' earþ 1990s, and among the changes being return to a "put and take fishery" being pro business. But the government of the time proposed was a reorgarìisation of the man- posed by the Wildlife Service for the upper could see past the accusations of meddling agement of salmonid angìing and gamebird Clutha hydro lakes as a step back into "dark recognised the possible validity of the criti- hunting in New Zealand. ages" trout fishery management. cisms, and decided that they should at least be There was clearþ an aspiration within the Wildlife Service's senior management that its model of management (government-managed conservancies with government-employed HAINES HUNTER staff and governmentrontrolled funding - overseen by conservancy councils with some COUNTRY angler-hunter input) should be extended to the whole country. In that eventualit¡ Lake Dunstan would have fallen into the hands of the agency that some planned as ultimately to replace the Wildlife Service - articulated in a revealing Wildlife Service publication called "A Model of its Kind". As it transpired, this was not what happened at all-the structure eventually approved by government was quite the reverse: the now-existing Fish & Game Council structure was instituted, and is basi- cally a reformed Acclimatisation Society structure that might have been entitled "A Model of the Existing Kind"! As a result of all this, had the proposed hatchery have been conslruc(ed, al Wildlile Service instigation, it would have been sited in what eventually became part of the district of the Otago Fish & Game Council. If Otago did not want such a hatcher¡ building it made no sense at all - economically or biologically. However, included among the conditions for constructing the Cþe Dam (contained in explicit empowering legislation) was a condi- Nukuhou Street. PO Box 1O38, Toupo tion that a hatchery must be constructed. Fox & phone lOTl378 7779. Alh (O7l378 8753 Opposition to the hatchery left ECNZ in a dif- 70 Fish €l Game Neu Zealand t conttrrctíng tbe Clyàe Dam wa¿ a conàítíon tlaat a laatclaery mtt¿t be con¿tructe? Gomfolt and Safety Above and BeloYY the Water Line Waln:sWaders are manufacturred in three styles - CHESTWAST &THIGH and NOW STOCKING arailable in boot sÈes 5- 14. ficult position as it was required by law to FOOT WADERS are from highlensÇ closed<ell chloroprene rubbe6 build a hatchery that no.one involved in man- Made Waln¡sWaders are øolly waærproolwarm and aging the fisher¡ likely to develop, seemed to cornfi¡rtable ø væanThe dosed cell neoPrene from wiidr want. Over a series of months, negotiations they are made is e.inforced on Ûte ouside widr nylon were undertaken that provided a solution to and lined wiúr a warm plush pile which reduces this dilemma, and this led to the establish- condensation and helps nrake the waders easy to pull on ment of the ECNZ Clutha Fisheries Trust. and ofi. Because closed cell neoprene conains thousands Money that had been set aside for construc- of tiny air bubbles it is lightweighCflexible and provides excellent thermal insulation. tion of the hatchery - $2.7 million - was given kree pads for oo-a duratilÇ to the Tiust, subject to conditions specified in NOW whfr ftted cushioned and protection. the Trust Deed, of which more below. The AllWalrusWaders are indMdually made and tested in dilemma of ECNZ legally having to build an Nev¿ Zealand.Seams are cross link bonded and rubber unnecessary) unwanted (and predictably aped for suengdr and dunbilÇ.

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