SPECIAL TRIBUNAL Ngaruroro and Clive Rivers Special Tribunal Recommendation Report on Application for Water Conservation Order The Ngaruroro and Clive Rivers Applicants: New Zealand Fish and Game Council; Hawkes Bay Fish and Game Council; Operation Pātiki Ngāti Hori ki Kohupātiki; Royal Forest & Bird Society of New Zealand; Whitewater NZ; Jet Boating New Zealand. August 2019 Special Tribunal recommendation report on the application for Water Conservation Order on The Ngaruroro and Clive Rivers SPECIAL TRIBUNAL WATER CONSERVATION ORDER: NGARURORO AND CLIVE RIVERS IN THE MATTER of the Resource Management Act 1991 AND IN THE MATTER of a Special Tribunal appointed under s202 of the Resource Management Act 1991 to consider an application for a Water Conservation Order made by New Zealand Fish and Game Council, the Hawke’s Bay Fish and Game Council, Operation Pātiki Ngāti Hori ki Kohupatiki, Whitewater New Zealand, Jet Boating New Zealand, and the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand (the applicants) in relation to the Water Conservation Order. THE SPECIAL TRIBUNAL Richard Fowler (Chair) Alec Neill (Member) Dr Roger Maaka (Member) Dr Ngaire Phillips (Member) John McCliskie (Member) SPECIAL TRIBUNAL REPORT TO THE MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 208 RMA Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Background ............................................................................................................................................. 1 The Process ............................................................................................................................ 1 The Application and its first notification .................................................................................................. 1 The pre-hearing phase and conference .................................................................................................. 3 The Hearing Phase, Stage 1 – Upper Ngaruroro ................................................................................... 4 TANK ....................................................................................................................................................... 6 Phase between Stage 1 and Stage 2 ..................................................................................................... 6 The Hearing Phase, Stage 2 – Lower Ngaruroro ................................................................................... 7 The Law ................................................................................................................................... 7 The core legal requirements ................................................................................................................... 7 What is “outstanding”? ............................................................................................................................ 8 In considering whether an order is necessary, is there a presumption in favour of protection once it is found that the water body has outstanding characteristics? ................................................................... 8 ss.199 and 207: Drawing the threads together ....................................................................................... 9 Statutory Instruments .......................................................................................................... 10 National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2014 ............................................................. 10 (“NPSFM”) ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Hawkes Bay Regional Resource Management Plan (“RRMP”) ........................................................... 11 District Plans ......................................................................................................................................... 12 Summary of Findings in respect of statutory instruments ..................................................................... 12 Demarcation between upper and lower river ...................................................................... 13 Whether there should be a division between the upper and lower river and if so where? ................... 13 The Values ............................................................................................................................ 14 Significance in accordance with Tikanga Māori .................................................................................... 14 Cultural and spiritual purposes ............................................................................................................. 16 Upper River rainbow trout habitat and rainbow trout fishery ................................................................ 17 Upper River Angling Amenity ................................................................................................................ 19 Habitat for Avifauna .............................................................................................................................. 22 Habitat for Native Fish .......................................................................................................................... 26 Upper River white water rafting and kayaking amenity and recreation ................................................ 31 Jet boating amenity and recreation ....................................................................................................... 34 Upper River wild, scenic or other natural characteristics ...................................................................... 39 Scientific and Ecological Values: Kaweka Lakes.................................................................................. 42 Water Quality ........................................................................................................................................ 44 Summary of findings and consequences .............................................................................................. 48 Legal Issues as to the Form of an Order ............................................................................. 48 Is there jurisdiction for a WCO to impose restrictions directed at managing discharges to land and land use activities which have effects on water quality? ...................................................................... 48 s.14(3) takes and a requirement for fish screening .............................................................................. 50 Other matters: - Climate change, damming and future innovation ....................................................... 50 Annex: Upper Ngaruroro Landowners Map .......................................................................................... 53 Draft Order ............................................................................................................................ 54 Draft Upper Ngaruroro River Water Conservation Order ................................................... 55 Schedule 1 ............................................................................................................................................ 61 Schedule 2 ............................................................................................................................................ 62 Schedule 3 ............................................................................................................................................ 63 Schedule 4 ............................................................................................................................................ 64 Introduction Background 1. The Ngaruroro River is located in the eastern North Island of New Zealand. It runs for a total of 164 kilometres southeast from the Kaweka, Kaimanawa and Ruahine Ranges and then east before emptying into Hawke Bay roughly halfway between the cities of Napier and Hastings, near the town of Clive. The river is mostly a single-thread channel from its headwaters down to Whanawhana (45 kilometers from the coast), flowing through a greywacke rock gorge. Below Whanawhana, the river opens to wide braided channel and is joined by the Maraekakaho River. The Ngaruroro shares a river mouth with the Tūtaekurī, Clive River and Muddy Creek. The meeting of these rivers forms the Waitangi Estuary. 2. The river is named Ngaruroro which is a combination of the word ‘ngaru, meaning wave’ and a contraction of the name, Upokororo (the now extinct Grayling fish), roro. A dog belonging to one of the earliest ancestors, Mahutapoanui, disturbed a large shoal of Upokororo while crossing the river. The fish were in such large numbers that they created a living wave in their flight. From that time onwards the river was known as Ngaruroro (the wave of Upokororo). 3. The Ngaruroro is one of several rivers that helped form the alluvial Heretaunga Plains at the south end of the coast of Hawke Bay. The course of the Ngaruroro has changed several times, originally flowing down what is now the Clive River. It changed to much of its present course in 1867 during a major flood. In 1969, the bottom 4 km of river was intentionally diverted more directly to the coast in an effort to reduce flooding. The Karamū and Clive remain as rivers, but drain a smaller catchment. 4. Part 9 of the Resource Management Act 1991 (“RMA”) provides the relevant