The Star: October 11, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday October 11 2018 23
News
DREDGING WORK will begin
on the lower Heathcote River to
help reduce flood risk.
The dredging is part of the
city council’s land drainage
recovery programme and will
be carried out by contractor City
Care between Opawa Rd and the
Woolston Cut (an engineered
channel).
The work
below Opawa
Rd will remove
more than
20,000 cu m of
sediment that
has built up
since regular
dredging of the
river stopped
in the mid-1980s.
The river will be closed to recreational
vessels such as kayaks
and canoes, between Opawa Rd
and Radley Park, while dredging
is under way.
City council land drainage
manager Keith Davison said it
will restore capacity lost after
the earthquakes and through
ongoing silt deposits in the lower
Heathcote River channel.
“By restoring the capacity of
the river channel, the risk of
properties and streets flooding
during heavy rainfall will be
reduced, benefiting local residents
and those who live further
upstream,” he said.
“There will be some disruption
while this project is carried out
but the contractor will minimise
that as much as possible and we
think the benefits to residents in
the long-term will be valuable.”
Mr Davison said the dredging
will also remove contaminated
sediment which entered the river
from commercial and street
storm water run-off to improve
the habitat in the river.
“This will complement benefits
from the new storm water filter
being built nearby on Richardson
Tce.”
“We’ll be planting native trees
and plants during the landscaping
phase following the dredging work
which will enhance the ecological
and landscape values of the area.”
The project will be carried out
in two stages.
Stage one, between Radley
St and the Woolston Cut, will
begin with tree removals from
riverbanks this week before
dredging with an excavator and
barge starts at Connal Reserve in
mid-October.
Work on this reach below Radley
St will continue until June,
Local
News
Now
Heathcote River dredging to reduce flooding risk
Keith Davison
A CHRISTCHURCH
hairdresser’s illegal take of cats’
eyes and paua displayed a blatant
disregard for the health and
future sustainability of a precious
fishery, says the Ministry for
Primary Industries.
Haiqiang Lin, 25, was
sentenced in the district court
after earlier pleading guilty to
gathering three times the legal
limit of paua, the majority of
which were undersized, as well as
three times the legal limit of cats’
eyes from an area in the Akaroa
Harbour Taiapure.
PROGRESS: The city council is set to begin dredging on the Heathcote River.
He was fined $2000 and
ordered to pay court costs of
$390.
Lin was caught after MPI
fishery officers on patrol in
the area in March, became
suspicious and pulled his vehicle
over for inspection.
After initially denying he had
gathered shellfish or paua from
the area, he admitted, under
further questioning, that he had
been.
THe fishery officers then
discovered 48 black-foot paua
– 45 of which were undersized,
ranging from 99mm to 124mm –
and 70 cats’ eyes. Only one paua
was of legal size (125mm).
MPI spokesman Howard Reid
said the offending was very
disappointing.
“THe Akaroa Harbour
Taiapure committee was
concerned enough for the
species in the harbour that they
established a lower catch limit
a few years ago to reduce the
fishing pressure,” he said.
“Under the revised regulations,
the limit for cats’ eyes is 20 per
person per day. Mr Lin clearly
took over three times that
limit.
“THese shellfish are a keystone
species in the food web in which
they exist. If these shellfish are
removed from the ecosystem,
a monoculture of algae could
result, severely reducing the
ability of other more highly
valued species, like mussels, to
exist in the area.”
Mr Reid said taking
undersized and excess paua is
also very damaging.
“THey are a slow-growing
Fire rages, homes at risk
including tidying up the site and
landscaping from April.
Walkways on both sides of
the river will be closed during
some periods of the work, with
safety fencing and signage in
place. Access will remain open
through Radley Park and to
Laura Kent Reserve through
Laura Kent Pl.
Stage two, between Opawa
Rd and Radley St, will also
start mid-October with dredging
by an excavator based on the
Clarendon Tce side of the river.
Dredging on the stage two
reach will be split into two phases
to minimise the impact on
whitebait during their spawning
season of March to June.
It is expected to be complete by
September.
There will be some parking
restrictions and traffic disruption,
including single-laning, on
Clarendon Tce while trucks are
being loaded.
The city council has asked residents
to keep children and pets at
a safe distance from the worksite
and construction machinery
while the project is underway.
Investigation and design work
for the Stage three reach from
Opawa Rd to Hansen Park is
underway and dredging of this
section is expected to happen late
next year through to early 2020.
$2000 fine for gathering illegal amount of seafood
shellfish. Daily limits are in
place to ensure enough paua
survive through to breeding
maturity to help sustain the
fishery. The taking of excess
and undersized paua threatens
the future sustainability of the
fishery and causes local depletion
which causes more stress to other
areas.”
Mr Reid says the fine
handed down to Lin, who has
previously been caught taking
excess paua and undersized
paua, should serve as a warning
to others.
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