Te Ao Hou – The New World
16 March
Te Ao Hou – The New World signals the promise of new life for Canterbury and two of the region’s most degraded lakes – Te Waihora (Ellesmere) and Te Roto o Wairewa (Forsyth).
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Kaiwhakahaere Mark Solomon says these lakes and the ecosystems they support are in peril.
“These were the food baskets that sustained generations of Ngāi Tahu and through Te Ao Hou we believe they have the potential to sustain the Canterbury community once again,” he says. “By harnessing nature and the innovative application of science, the Waiwera Runanga initiated project will help return these iconic ecosystems to pristine healthy and productive lakes. This will create significant commercial growth for the region.”
Te Ao Hou embodies the quantum shift in attitude and thinking required to address our environmental issues. The current “oil tanker” mentality of producing high-yield but low-nutrient products using fossil fuel based processes causing pollution (from carbon pollution to contamination of water through intensive land practises) is not sustainable. Te Ao Hou capitalises on bio-engineering turning the oil tanker around and transforms it into a modern-day waka, powered by new sun energy (solar, hydro, biomass, tidal, wave power) and steered by the values of kaitiakitanga (stewardship) and rangatiratanga (leadership).
The symbolic return of the waka will be the restoration of the lakes, regeneration of the food chain, increased fish stocks - in the lakes and the sea - and the enhancement of mahinga kai (working the food) resources.
Wairewa Runanga and Ngai Tahu, as kaitiaki (stewards) have self funded the first step and constructed a half-kilometre long canal, which has proved a permanent ‘hard’ outlet can be established. Now with the support of the Canterbury V5 initiative, they believe the project has the impetus to progress to the next stage, which involves creating a tidal estuary at the seaward end of Wairewa and eventually a 4.3km long canal connecting to Te Waihora.
“When we once again see Southern Wright whales and their calves basking off Birdlings Flat we will know our vision has been achieved,” says Wairewa Rūnanga chair Robin Wybrow.
The shared tidal estuary and flows through the canal will provide the energy to sweep away the gravel build up creating permanent fish migration pathways for whitebait, eels, flounder, sea trout and other fish. Ultimately, Te Ao Hou aims to restore the links in the food chain, re-order the production base and increase the biomass of valuable fish species from the whitebait to the whales.
Te Ao Hou provides a bio-engineered solution focused on reversing the continued degradation of the lakes. Arguably water is Canterbury's most valuable natural resource and water management is increasingly critical for the Canterbury economy, which relies heavily upon agriculture to generate income. Degraded water quality due to losses of nitrogen, phosphorus and faecal bacteria from farms into waterways has become a major environmental problem. Restored and vibrant lakes will be an asset for Canterbury and living proof we are sustainably managing our water resource right down to the waste discharge end of the cycle. Te Ao Hou will showcase innovative and effective solutions for the ongoing and sustainable management of this resource.
Robin Wybrow says “The most important part of this project is it is a signpost to the world that a change in attitude and respect for our planet can lead to improved returns that are sustainable.”
Te Ao Hou encompasses a small team of experts: Charles Mitchell who has proven the concept at his fishery operation in Raglan, the engineering vision of Wayne Alexander who worked on the Britten Motorcycle and developed Mark Ingles’ prosthetic legs, the drive and commitment of Robin Wybrow and Ngai Tahu, and the support of Simon Ford of Mortlock McCormack Law to ground the project.
The status quo is not an alternative. Lake Te Waihora and Lake Wairewa cannot continue to be treated as Canterbury’s toilet bowl, receiving all the highly polluted nutrient-loaded water which is a result of, in part, the release of sewage and agricultural run-off carrying fertilisers into natural waters. Excessive aqua plant growth and decay will continue to cause a severe reduction in water quality in the lakes. A clear example of this is both lakes now producing non-valuable species such as Nodularia Spumigena a blue green algae that blooms producing Nodularia r, a cyanotoxin deadly to humans, pets and livestock. Apart from the obvious health hazards, this disrupts normal functioning of the ecosystem, causing a variety of problems such as a lack of oxygen in the water, needed for fish and shellfish to survive.
Through Te Ao Hou, Canterbury can turn approximately 182 square kilometres of largely neglected and degraded water on Canterbury’s doorstep into an asset for all Cantabrians. In effect, the lakes will be harnessed as Canterbury’s largest solar panels, providing the energy to power their own recovery.
There is significant aquaculture potential and tourism opportunities - the first step involves providing an ecological connection between the lakes and the sea to allow the lakes to breathe again. Construction costs are not large and the lakes have converged in the past. Te Ao Hou offers an immediate favourable cost-benefit ratio for lake level management plus a variety of long-term benefits that will generate future income for the Canterbury economy.
Precise lake level control will be possible, avoiding the need for costly manual openings (diggers excavating a large trench through the foreshore) of the lakes to prevent floods downstream in Halswell causing a huge change in lake level in a short period of time adversely impacting on the lakes’ ecosystems.
ENDS