29 Jul 2014

River patrol supports Fish and Game

7:14 pm on 29 July 2014

Tai Tokerau's river patrol man Millan Ruka says Fish and Game should be encouraged to carry on speaking out about the state of the country's rivers.

Fish and Game says Conservation Minister, Nick Smith, has implied he'd restructure the organisation, if it didn't tone down its stance on water quality.

Millan Ruka who's been patrolling and reporting on Northland rivers for two years, said they were getting dirtier despite efforts to fence off cows

He said Fish and Game was one of the few organisations prepared to state that plainly, and should not be muzzled or punished for doing its duty.

Mr Ruka said there had been a rash of applications in Tai Tokerau for resource consents to discharge more effluent - as farmers try to get in ahead of new freshwater quality guidelines.

Fish and Game chief executive Bryce Johnson said he received an assurance from the Prime Minister on Tuesday, that the organisation's statutory role was safe.