Maraka! Maraka! Otautahi rises from the ruins - te karaka

ANEW
World
viEW
wairewa was once a thriving food basket that sustained
generations of Ngāi tahu in Canterbury. Although what you see
now are bleak, murky waters, the future is bright and healthy.
Kaituhitui Adrienne Rewi looks at a project to revive the lake.
IF YOU LOOK AT LAKe WAIReWA FROM AFAR, IT APPeARS LIKe MOST
New Zealand lakes – a body of cool water surrounded by hills. But up
close, the water is dark and degraded. It is worse still under a microscope.
If you venture out on a canoe, do not fall in otherwise you may
have to visit a doctor.
It wasn’t always this way. The lake, properly known as Te Roto o
Wairewa (Lake Forsyth), along with Lake Horowhenua in the North
Island, is one of just two customary lakes in New Zealand, and was
once a thriving food basket that sustained generations of Ngāi Tahu in
Canterbury. A customary lake is one where iwi have retained exclusive
fishing rights for tuna (eels).
Robin Wybrow, chairman of Ngāi Tahu’s Wairewa Rūnanga, sees
past the bleak, murky waters and looks forward to a brighter, healthier
future for the lake. He is confident that an innovative bioengineering
project, developed with the help of engineer Wayne Alexander and
fisheries scientist Charles Mitchell, will restore the lake to its former
bounty, while at the same time providing a host of new economic
opportunities for the region.
The rūnanga-led project, Te Ao Hou (The New World), includes the
construction of a loch, an estuary, a groyne, a canal and the production
of healthy algae for fish food and, ultimately, the vision of whales
returning to their old feeding grounds in the area.
Others also see the project’s potential. Te Ao Hou is one of four
Canterbury V5 award winners. V5 are projects of national significance
with the potential to generate up to $100 million of revenue for the
Canterbury region within five years and $1 billion or more within
20 years.
Both Lake Wairewa and its neighbour Te Waihora (Lake ellesmere)
suffer from high algal levels. In recent times Wairewa has had a severe
problem with sedimentation and the blue-green algae Nodularia
spumigena, which produces a deadly cyanotoxin in summer. This
poses a health hazard to humans and other mammals, and disrupts
the lakes’ normal ecosystems, including by limiting the water oxygen
needed for fish and shellfish to survive.
Wybrow says the rūnanga wanted to reinstate a permanent outlet
from the lake to the sea to change the lake’s chemistry, and to control
the depth, temperature and salinity for the better health of our
resources.”
The rūnanga and Ngāi Tahu initially funded that first step, creating
a 600 metre-long canal to act as a permanent “hard outlet” to the
ocean.
Now, thanks to $200,000 worth of professional assistance and
project development provided by the Canterbury V5 initiative, the
Te Ao Hou team will work to create a tidal estuary at the seaward end of
Lake Wairewa and, potentially, a 4.3 kilometre-long canal connecting
to Te Waihora.
The shared tidal estuary flows through the canal joining the two
lakes and will provide the energy to sweep away the gravel build-up,
creating permanent fish migration pathways for inanga (whitebait),
tuna (eels), pātiki (flounder), sea trout and other fish. The ultimate
aim is to restore links in the food chain, re-order the production base
and increase the biomass of valuable fish species in the region, ranging
from whitebait to whales.
Wybrow says the support of the V5 initiative, managed jointly
by the Canterbury employers’ Chamber of Commerce, Canterbury
Development Corporation and the University of Canterbury, was a
turning point; allowing the team to apply critical thinking and model-
Robin Wybrow, chairman of Ngāi Tahu’s Wairewa
Rūnanga, looks forward to a brighter, healthier
future for Te Roto o Wairewa (Lake Forsyth)
through the rūnanga-led project, Te Ao Hou
(The New World), which includes the construction
of a loch, an estuary, a groyne, a canal and the
production of healthy algae for fish food and,
ultimately, the vision of whales
returning to their old feeding
grounds in the area.
ling to parts of the concept.
Te Ao Hou is also supported by the Canterbury Regional Council,
the Department of Conservation, environment Canterbury and the
Ngāi Tahu Fund.
A small team of experts has worked on the project since its inception
and early development, including Christchurch-based Wayne
Alexander and Raglan-based Charles Mitchell.
Alexander, who worked on the world record-breaking Britten
motorcycle and developed mountaineer and motivational speaker
Mark Inglis’ prosthetic legs, came up with the original idea for the
project.
Alexander says he was frustrated by news, several years ago, that
the Christchurch City Council was considering an $11 million contribution
to building a proposed new rowing venue near the city.
“I couldn’t understand why they were ignoring the lakes we’d
already ruined and were prepared to build a man-made ‘replacement’.
“I drove out to Wairewa and sat under the cliffs. The idea of creating
a permanent canal from the lake to the sea came to me then,
so I phoned the Wairewa Rūnanga and met with Robin. From there,
48 te KaraKa MaKarIrI 2011
te KaraKa MaKarIrI 2011 49
PhotogRAPhS AdRieNNe Rewi