Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling for urgent changes to the sediment and E. coli attributes and national bottom lines (NBLs) following the release of an independent review which shows the way they were determined was flawed, they are not achievable, and trying to achieve them will decimate farming and rural communities.
The review, by leading independent environmental consultants Torlesse Environmental Ltd, found that even if agriculture is stopped and all catchments returned to their natural state throughout the country, up to 38 percent of rivers would still not meet the suspended fine sediment national bottom lines.
The standards were set by the previous government and like so much they did, are impractical.
It isn’t just farming and other human activities which contribute to sediment in waterways. Water immediately below native forests won’t always meet the standard.
It also found that an estimated 44 percent of all sheep and beef farmland would likely need to be retired, along with other extensive mitigations, if the national bottom lines for fine sediment were enforced. Even if these measures were taken, around 50 percent of the catchments currently below the NBLs would remain below them.
B+LNZ is recommending the suspended fine sediment attribute and 95th percentile E. coli states are removed as an interim measure, while urgent work is undertaken on the replacement of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (NPS-FM) and the development of a more appropriate national framework for managing suspended fine sediment and E. coli.
B+LNZ Chair Kate Acland acknowledges sheep and beef farming can have an impact on freshwater quality and that this needs to be managed. “However the way this is currently being done has some significant issues and will have massive implications for our sector – so it’s vital we get it right.”
The Government has pushed out the date that regional councils can notify a plan to implement the NPS-FM and said it will amend the NPS-FM. However, the NPS-FM is still in place and many regional councils are continuing with their planning processes based on the current attribute bands and NBLs.
“The review found significant issues in the way the suspended fine sediment and the 95th percentile E. coli attribute frameworks were determined and set up, and therefore in their achievability [see editor’s notes].
“A review of published literature indicates that around 20 percent of waterways coming out of catchments in their natural state – for example National Parks – do not currently meet the suspended fine sediment NBLs.
“Even if agriculture was stopped and all catchments returned to their natural state throughout the country, up to 38 percent of all rivers would not meet the suspended fine sediment NBLs.”
Torlesse assessed what actions may need to be implemented on sheep and beef farms to achieve the suspended fine sediment NBLs, using GIS mapping of the B+LNZ Sheep and Beef Survey Farms and the models used by MfE and regional councils.
It found that an estimated 44 percent of all sheep and beef farmland would likely need to be retired, in addition to pole planting on an estimated 8 percent of the remaining farmland, as well as nearly 13,000 kilometres of additional waterway fencing.
B+LNZ assessed the economic impact of undertaking these mitigations on the sheep and beef sector.
“We estimate that retiring 44 percent of sheep and beef farmland could cost New Zealand’s economy $3.9 billion per year in reduced sheepmeat and beef exports. That’s more than double the annual value of wine exports and more than double the value of fish exports.
“There would also be significant flow-on effects, with the likely closure of associated businesses such as meat processing works and farm supply and servicing businesses, and of rural schools, community services and more. That will devastate rural communities.”
B+LNZ found pole planting and additional fencing of waterways could cost over $1.4 billion to implement.
“These are eye-watering and hugely concerning numbers for our sector, and for New Zealand,” Acland says.
“This review supports the urgent need for a fundamental rethink of the management framework for suspended fine sediment and E. coli. We need to act before regional freshwater plans become operative on the basis of these flawed NBLs.”
Acland says B+LNZ will provide Ministers and officials with the report and continue to push for urgent action.
The review was peer reviewed by Dr Duncan Gray, a freshwater ecologist with 20 years’ experience in the public and private sector.
Policy must be based on the science, what’s achievable, and what’s affordable.
It must take into account that nature contributes to sediment – pristine waterways around native forests would fail the sediment standard – and birds contribute to high E COli levels, for example seagulls are responsible for polluting the Kakanui River.
And it must take into account economic and social factors.
The full report is here.
A summary is here.
Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.
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