Dear Minister
We would be grateful if you could reply to the letter we sent you 1 March 2022 which I have reproduced below:

Dear Minister
National Water Conservation (Rakaia River) Order 1988 Reprint 7 March 2013

Established in 1974, the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers is an affiliation of
angling clubs and individual members. The Federation works for the protection of rivers and lakes and our world-class freshwater sports fishery. Our strength lies in our independence and the number of anglers we represent.

We have been listening to Canterbury anglers about the decline of the Rakaia River for
many years, particularly the collapse of insect life, migratory smelt (including the critically
endangered Stokell’s Smelt), the consequent decline of braided river bird populations, such as the black billed gull, and the sea-run trout & salmon fishery.

River users report how reduced flows at the lower river have resulted in ephemeral braids
becoming vegetated islands, deposition of silt and sediment on to once clean gravels, river bed armouring, river mouth contraction and increased flood events as a result.

There is consensus amongst river users that massive river bed bulldozer works, industrial
scale irrigation abstractions and the practice of large pulses of ‘stored water’ from Lake
Coleridge being released down the Rakaia for irrigation takes are responsible for this
degradation.

A complicated mesh of consents for diverting, storing and taking water, complex flow-band and allocation pooling arrangements and the inability or unwillingness to check compliance has compounded the problem.

Anglers have repeatedly engaged with Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) to address this issue but feel they have been ignored and let down.

Water Conservation Orders are enacted under Part 9 of the Resource Management Act
1991. Section 24(f) of the same Act states that the Minister shall have the following function:

'the monitoring of the effect and implementation of this Act (including any regulations in force under it), national policy statements, national planning standards, and water conservation orders.'

As per the footnote on the reprint of the (Rakaia River) Order it is administered by the
Ministry for the Environment (MfE).

We therefore ask for a meeting with yourself so we can present our analysis of the Rakaia
WCO problems and to seek your understanding of the following:

1. What monitoring of effects have been undertaken by your Ministry in regards to
section 3 (Outstanding characteristics and features) section 4 (Retention of natural
waters in a natural state) and section 5 (Partial retention of natural waters) of the
Rakaia WCO?

2. Whether the objectives of the WCO are being met for the Rakaia River and in
particular between the CPWS take off and the river mouth.

3. The exercise of oversight by MfE of WCO’s?

We would like to address these issues face-to-face and so will arrange a delegation to come and meet with you at a time and place of your convenience and at the earliest available opportunity.

Yours sincerely

David Haynes

cc: Hon Kiritapu Allen, Minister of Conservation
Ray Grubb, chair, Fish & Game National Council
Alan Strong, chair, North Canterbury Fish & Game
Rasmus Gabrielsson, CEO, North Canterbury Fish & Game
Bill Southward, Rakaia Huts
Larry Burke, president, NZ Salmon Anglers Association
Paul Hodgson, NZ Salmon Anglers Association
Steve Gerard, Future Rivers Trust
Gary Taylor, Environmental Defence Society.
Nicky Snoyink, Forest & Bird
Marnie Prickett, Choose Clean Water
Gary McGregor, chair, Jet Boating NZ Canterbury