Helping Our Tasman Fish
Ellie and Reann, part of the Tasman Jobs for Nature Fish Passage Project, finish up a culvert remediation. Photo: Supplied.
The Tasman Jobs for Nature Fish Passage Project is entering a period of acceleration. Currently in year two of five, the project focuses on assessing and remediating in-stream structures on private land to help fish get upstream. This work is free to landowners.
Residents in the Motueka South and Collingwood areas may see the Kūmanū Environmental fish passage team as they visit properties to complete this work.
What does this mean? The team looks at in-stream structures like culverts to see if fish can pass through. If they can’t, or are unlikely to, they try and fix that.
How? With the use of materials such as rubber aprons, mussel spat rope and baffles. It usually takes around 15 to 30 minutes per remediation then the team is on their way to the next structure.
Will they be in touch with me? If you have an in-stream structure and/or waterway they may be in touch directly. Sometimes they visually need to rule out a mapped “potential” or waterway crossing point structure too.
With the valued support of landowners across the district, the project has made some significant achievements in the first year with 809 assessments and 145 remediations completed, mainly in valleys around Motueka and Tapawera. As with any long-term project, there were plenty of learnings in the first year. Now in year two, the focus is on building greater community awareness to enable the project to meet the larger numbers planned.
The team is working to complete whole catchments to better connect waterways for fish.
Year two expectations involve having over 1,400 assessments and 504 remediations complete.
This is a Tasman Jobs for Nature Project which is funded by Ministry for the Environment and Tasman District Council. With the support of landowners across the region, this five-year project (ending in June 2026) is set to make significant achievements for Tasman fish with at least 4,350 assessments and 1,566 remediations.
If you are keen to know more, visit tasman.govt.nz and search ‘Fish Passage project updates’.