A lethal break out of bird botulism in Waikato’s Whangamarino Wetland has actually killed countless birds, consisting of some uncommon native types.
Fish and Game New Zealand state it’s “yet another wake-up call for urgent action” to be taken by the Waikato Regional Council.
“The latest outbreak of the deadly bacteria, which produces a toxin that can paralyse and kill birds, follows multiple and increasing outbreaks during summers in and around the Waikato region over the past decade,” Fish and Game New Zealand said in a press release on its website.
Poor water quality and modifications to water streams as an outcome of human activities add to low oxygen levels, producing the ideal growing conditions for this germs.
“This results in fish dying, followed by birds before the botulism spreads to other surrounding wetland environments,” Fish and Game New Zealand said, calling it “yet another wake-up call for urgent action”.
The Whangamarino Wetland is the second-largest freshwater wetland in the North Island, covering almost 7000 hectares in Waikato, and was picked as one of 3 nationally-significant wetland websites in the Department of Conservation’s Arawai Kākāriki wetlands repair program.
Fish and Game New Zealand president Corina Jordan says the break out is a terrible scenario and has actually had a huge influence on fish and bird populations in these wetlands.
“Parts of this wetland have been without oxygen for the best part of three months, leading to massive aquatic deaths of even the hardiest freshwater species such as eels. This isn’t normal in healthy freshwater wetland systems,” Jordan said.
Fish and Game New Zealand president Corina Jordan. Photo / Fish and Game New Zealand
Jordan says the Waikato Regional Council requires to take a difficult take a look at how the system is handled and limitation releases into these waterways to help reduce the probability and seriousness of these events continuing to happen in the future
“There have been long-term systemic failures in freshwater policies and a lack of implementation that has caused severe degradation in our freshwater ecosystems. Lake Waikare, one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most polluted lakes, has also been diverted into the wetland as part of the flood control scheme, which is adding even more nutrients to the wetland,” she said.
Degradation of waterways and associated environments, paired with forecasts of longer hotter summertimes, indicates these kinds of botulism break outs are most likely to end up being more typical, Jordan said.
Fish and Game New Zealand’s southern video game bird supervisor for the Auckland and Waikato area, David Klee, says the scenario is grim.
“Botulism is symptomatic of severely degraded ecosystems and this area is being adversely impacted by human activity to the point where its resilience is severely compromised,” Klee said.
Thousands of wetland birds have actually been killed by the current break out of botulism. Photo / Fish and Game New Zealand
“Fish and Game, the Department of Conservation, Mana Whenua, and hunter volunteers, in conjunction with contractors, have recovered close to 1,500 dead birds and rescued hundreds of sick ones from the wetland, an important step in trying to minimise the size and scale of the outbreak.”
Klee says Fish and Game NZ is doing whatever it can with the restricted resources available, nevertheless, lots of parts of the wetland location, covering 7000ha, are unattainable.
“It is an appalling situation both in terms of animal welfare and the environmental impact,” he said.
Ngāti Naho Trust CEO Haydn Solomon has actually been helping in the clean-up operations and is worried by the absence of action being taken.
“Our whānau want answers from authorities, not excuses. We are tired of the hui with consultants that lack follow-through, or hollow speeches from our leaders or mayors that go nowhere. Our waterways are getting hammered,” Solomon said.
“Our wetlands, lakes, rivers and springs are at breaking point, yet nothing substantive and meaningful is done.”
