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
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.
ENDS
Reports
- Download full report: Technical assessment of the impacts of the NPS-FM 2020 national bottom lines on sheep and beef farms (PDF, 1MB)
- Download summary report: Summary report: Impact on sheep and beef farms in New Zealand – National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 attribute state framework (PDF, 3.6MB)
Notes for editors
About the target attribute states:
- The NPS-FM provides regional councils with direction on how they should manage freshwater under the Resource Management Act.
- Under the NPS-FM regional councils must set water quality targets and limits to at least meet minimum targets or limits for contaminants such as suspended fine sediment and E. coli, among others.
Key flaws identified included:
Suspended fine sediment NBLs:
- They were based on the impacts to only a small number of indigenous fish species (and brown trout which are highly susceptible to sediment).
- The sediment–fish relationship used to establish the national bottom lines is based on recent modelled sediment data (not measured data) paired with fish abundance surveys beginning in the 1970s – and this relationship model has significant uncertainty.
- The national bottom lines do not adequately account for natural variability, as evidenced by the number of rivers with catchments in their natural state that would not meet them.
E. coli:
- The inclusion of the 95th percentile statistics without allowing regional councils to exclude data collected during heavy rainfall and floods is an issue because these must be included and most mitigations are less effective during high flow from heavy rainfall events, so it can be very difficult to meet the requirement to improve from one E. coli attribute state band to the next.
- The minimum required improvement for E. coli applies all year round, including winter months, during storm events and to all waterways including those not suitable for swimming or other contact recreation.