The new freshwater regulations aim to maintain or improve instream structures, except when it is desirable to prevent the passage of some fish species, to protect a desired fish species (e.g maintaining a weir to protect native fish, where they would otherwise be predated on by trout or to control the spread of pest fish such as gambusia/mosquito fish). The improvement and maintenance of these instream structures will open up additional habitat, thus facilitate population growth within our already threatened native fish populations.
Who manages fish passage? The Department of Conservation (DOC) and regional councils have specific responsibilities to manage fish passage in New Zealand waterways under the Freshwater Fisheries Regulations 1983 and Resource Management Act 1991 respectively. Both pieces of legislation must be considered when undertaking activities that may impede fish passage.
Regional councils are responsible for issuing resource consents and for enforcing the requirements of the NES-FW when required.
The Fish Passage Assessment Tool has been developed to provide an easy to use, practical tool for recording instream structures and assessing their likely impact on fish movements. Data is collected using the Fish Passage Assessment Survey available in the NIWA Citizen Science app. A User Guide for the Fish Passage Assessment Survey is available on NIWA's website(external link). The information collected using the app is automatically uploaded to a national fish passage database.
Fish Passage Assessment Tool (niwa.co.nz)(external link)
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