'A lake worth saving': Wairarapa Moana named 'a wetland of international significance'

Once the life-sustaining breadbasket of the valley, Lake Wairarapa and its surrounding wetlands have been drained, diverted and polluted into a supertrophic state.

Wairarapa Moana’s kaitiaki (guardians) were hoping the Ramsar Convention’s international recognition announced on Friday will help restore the mauri (lifeforce) of the natural resource.

Ra Smith, of Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, has studied the lake and its surrounds and knows that there is a pathway back, but there was still a lot of work to be done.

He said its new status as a “wetland of international significance” emphasises to everyone, especially local people, that it is a taonga worthy of investment.

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“It’s a very big deal. Sometimes in New Zealand you have to become internationally important before you become nationally important.”

“This is a lake worth saving, this is a lake worth putting some money into reinvigorating.”

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage was at Lake Ferry, south of Martinborough, on Friday to announce Wairarapa Moana’s success in gaining Ramsar recognition.

“I warmly congratulate the Wairarapa iwi, community groups and organisations that have championed this kaupapa. Ramsar status not only recognises the value of the wetland but also the community efforts to restore and protect the site.”

One of the biggest challenges faced to improve the lake’s ecosystem is clearing the suspended sediment to enable plants and micro-organisms to grow.

Sage said people needed to understand the urgency in restoring wetlands and how this would bring environmental benefits.

“Restoring the mauri of the lake involves quite significant changes in landuse around the lake to prevent the huge nutrient load that burdens it, to prevent the sediment getting into it and to make it much more of a pātaka (storehouse) for mahinga kai (natural resources) that it was in past generations.”

The Wairarapa Moana Wetlands project and wider Ruamāhanga Catchment recently received $6 million from central government’s Jobs for Nature programme and $4 million from Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Some of that money will be spent on riparian planting, pest control, biodiversity projects and landuse changes around the margins.

The lake was also infested with exotic fish such as rudd and perch which cleaned out much of the desirable plantlife.

“They make the conditions of the lake good for them but bad for everybody else,” Smith said.

He suggested harvesting the fish as food source instead of treating them like a pest.

“If you designate them as a commercial fish then you’re talking to people about an income rather than talking about them as an expense.”

Recognition as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention means New Zealand must manage the wetland, monitor its current values and report back to the convention.

Wairarapa Moana is the seventh wetland in the country to receive this status.

It is home to 96 bird species, 25 native fish species, and countless plant species.

New Zealand has lost 90 percent of wetlands and many of those remaining are threatened by development and poor water quality.

Much of Wairarapa Moana’s wetlands were drained as part of the Lower Valley Development Scheme in the 1960s which also served to protect the region from flooding.