Thread: An open letter to Fish and Game

Below is an open letter to Fish and Game from Federated Farmers.


Stop the open season on farmers
Source: Federated Farmers
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An open letter to anglers, hunters and farmers - it's time for meaningful discussion:
This Saturday (6 May) thousands of farmers will open their properties up to hunters for the opening of the 2017 duck shooting season. Throughout the year farmers provide access to waterways across their properties - to enable anglers the opportunity of catching trout.
Farmers, often in partnership with their local fish and game folk, have spent significant time and money creating and restoring wetland habitats. Strong friendships have been established between hunters/anglers and landowners. In recognition of this partnership, resident landowners and their families do not need a Fish and Game licence to shoot or fish on their own properties.
In some regions the Fish and Game licence revenue has been used to make the life of landowners that much more difficult. As a result, some Fish and Game licence holders may not face the same friendly welcome by their farmer friends this year.
In the Horizons region, for example, Wellington Fish and Game took the regional council to court on a legal technicality - ignoring the wishes of the wider community and in the face of the fact that improvements in water quality are being achieved. This move will simply add cost for dubious environmental benefit.
In the Hawke’s Bay your local Fish and Game Council is seeking an extremely broad definition for a wetland that will severely restrict farmers’ ability to farm wet paddocks.
Many farmers are over the constant claims that New Zealand has terrible water quality and farmers are largely at fault when in fact 80% of New Zealand’s waterways are stable or improving and all communities - across rural and urban - are part of the problem and therefore need to be part of the solution.
A significant number of individual Fish and Game licence holders support our farmers, but need to speak louder. Please acknowledge the great fishing and shooting experiences you enjoy and work with farmers to identify and address water quality issues where they exist.
We urge all Fish and Game licence holders to support the men and women who support you in providing access to great fishing and hunting experiences and encourage their organisation to work with, not against, the farming community. Don’t let the opportunities be lost by undermining farmers’ generosity.
Have a safe and successful opening day
Chris Allen
Federated Farmers of NZ National Board Member
Environment, Water, Pest Management and Biodiversity

I think the seed is already sown with F&G, seem to smell like DOC.

I don't approve a good part of what is written, and in some cases approve the court actions that FnG are taking against the Federated farmers mafia.

Originally Posted by Friwi

I don't approve a good part of what is written, and in some cases approve the court actions that FnG are taking against the Federated farmers mafia.

Fish and Game has not taken any court action against Federated Farmers, I'm not sure where you got that from.

Fish and Game and the Environmental Defence Society took legal action against Horizons Regional Council for considering the economic implications of both the farmers and the wider community when implementing the 'one plan'.

Fish and Game pulled out of the 'Clean Streams Accord' because they weren't getting everything they wanted. Instead of engaging in discussion they fire pot shots from the side. So far they have just targeted the dairy industry but they are threatening to start a 'dirty dairying 2' campaign against sheep and beef farming because they disapprove of their cropping techniques.

As the letter says, we all want clean water, we are all part of the problem, lets have some meaningful discussion and all be part of the solution.

well I only buy a licence so I can keep my stuff if I get checked, I dont do it to support F&G

I am probably not the best person to comment on the subject, but from time to tIme talk to people from fish and game about the issues they go through with federated farmers. So in a way it is the other side of the story. Yes it seems that some hard core dairy farmers are in conflict with them. But FnG seems to have a better relation ship with young federated farmers who tend to have a better environmental approach to things apparently .

And also, yes the streams and rivers are improving thanks to the efforts of the farmers . But if they had not been pushed for it in what conditions would our streams be nowdays?

Originally Posted by Rich007

Fish and Game has not taken any court action against Federated Farmers, I'm not sure where you got that from.

Fish and Game and the Environmental Defence Society took legal action against Horizons Regional Council for considering the economic implications of both the farmers and the wider community when implementing the 'one plan'.

Fish and Game pulled out of the 'Clean Streams Accord' because they weren't getting everything they wanted. Instead of engaging in discussion they fire pot shots from the side. So far they have just targeted the dairy industry but they are threatening to start a 'dirty dairying 2' campaign against sheep and beef farming because they disapprove of their cropping techniques.

As the letter says, we all want clean water,we are all part of the problem, lets have some meaningful discussion and all be part of the solution.

no they pulled out because they saw it for what it is [ so did forest and bird] a thinly disguised sop to do fuck all but look like its doing a lot.
i agree with a bit of what fed farmers say ie many oportunitys are given to hunters and anglers but many are held for guides and overseas hunters to.
its not rocket science to realise that there are certain areas and soil types where dairy farming shouldnt be.

my uncle was a cow cockie and i have fond memories of time at the various farms but if he for one minute thought he was damaging fish or fowl, he,d a moved elsewhere or packed it in mad keen duckshooter and fisho that he was
.

we are all part of the problem,

true but im not geting 5 to 600 of my mates to shit and piss in the same 2 acre paddock every 14 days maybe 21.
and carrying that on to every paddock on the joint.
is this the best we can do the stink of cowshit 24/7 and shredded truck tires from one end of the country to the other???

As the letter says, we all want clean water,we are all part of the problem,]

cartainly us to swim in farmers so it doesnt clog the irrigators'
but does thier need for it for private gain out wiegh our rights??
considering how much foriegn labour they and farming orientated bussinesses are bringing in, i sometimes struggle to see a upside.
add that to the bald faced cheek of pinching river margin or river land cos they sucked dry the river and fed farmers methink doth protest to much.

One of the key outcomes of the clean streams accord was an agreement to fence off all dairy farm waterways in order to reduce faecal contamination (through stopping dairy cows having direct access to waterways) and reduced Phosphate leaching into waterways (through the creation of riparian buffer zones). As of last year 99% of dairy farm waterways have now been fenced. It is now a condition of supply for all of the major dairy companies.

It sounds like plenty has been achieved to me. Still plenty more to go though.

Back in your uncles day they built their cowsheds next to the closet stream and hosed the effluent straight into it. These days effluent is collected and applied to the land at a time when the soil has the ability to absorb it and the pastures roots can uptake the nutrients and use them for growth. We are now required to have 90 days of effluent storage and must prove that our ponds do not leak.

Back in the day dairy farmers had little understanding of their environmental impact beyond their physical farm, but as we have learnt more about it we have adjusted our systems (most by choice and some by the use of a stick) and as a result our per cow and per kg of product nutrient losses has decreased significantly. There is a computer programme called 'Overseer' (developed by Agresearch) which models a farms nutrient losses and as a result can provide options for altering the farming system/infrastructure to reduce nutrient losses while still maintaining profitability. Eg changing the rate/timing of fertiliser inputs, changing effluent system, building a feedpad/cow barn to capture more 'piss and shit' as effluent.

You might not be "geting 5 to 600 of my mates to shit and piss in a different 2 acre paddock every 14 days maybe 21.
then startin at that paddock again depending on which rotation they are in". But I'll remind you that a lot (not all and this is part of what we need to work on) of the nutrients in this 'piss and shit' are captured by the pasture and used for growth. When you shit and piss where does it go? Unless you have a modern sewerage system that has kept up with population growth, then whenever you have more than 5mm of rain there is a good chance that it will find it's way (in it's raw state) into the nearest waterway. Where does your storm water go? If you really care about water quality then perhaps these are questions that you should be asking your local council and then perhaps suggest what you as a rate payer should be contributing additional money for????

Like I said we are all part of the problem, lets have a mature conversation about how we can all be part of the solution......

Originally Posted by gsp follower

no they pulled out because they saw it for what it is [ so did forest and bird] a thinly disguised sop to do fuck all but look like its doing a lot.
i agree with a bit of what fed farmers say ie many oportunitys are given to hunters and anglers but many are held for guides and overseas hunters to.
its not rocket science to realise that there are certain areas and soil types where dairy farming shouldnt be.
my uncle was a cow cockie and i have fond memories of time at the various farms but if he for one minute thought he was damaging fish or fowl, he,d a moved elsewhere or packed it in mad keen duckshooter and fisho that he was
.
true but im not geting 5 to 600 of my mates to shit and piss in a different 2 acre paddock every 14 days maybe 21.
then startin at that paddock again depending on which rotation they are in

I was going to post the same letter, but didn't want to be responsible for starting a cock fight between people who know, and those who've heard from.....
Thanks

Originally Posted by Rich007

As of last year 99% of dairy farm waterways have now been fenced.

Wow! So how do I have the misfortune of having absolutely all of the 1% that isn't fenced nationally all in my area.

That's the trouble with statistics ... you can make of them what you want.

Fencing off all water ways isn't the whole answer. In some cases its no right. I enjoy fishing for trout and some of the fenced off streams are no longer fish-able as the blackberry and scrub has become so thick that you cant get to the water. The excessive use of nitrogen/urea is the problem.

Originally Posted by nelpop

Fencing off all water ways isn't the whole answer. In some cases its no right. I enjoy fishing for trout and some of the fenced off streams are no longer fish-able as the blackberry and scrub has become so thick that you cant get to the water. The excessive use of nitrogen/urea is the problem.

Fencing off streams is important as it as it limits phosphorus run off and stops cows from crapping in the streams, reducing e coli levels.

In terms of the nitrogen, it's more a matter of it being applied at rates and times when the plant can uptake it.

The biggest issue is we face is dealing with the high level of nitrogen in cows urine (depending on the time of the year/feeding etc), this is deposited in a small area at a rate that is too high for the plant to uptake. There has been a lot of research go into this over the last 10 years.

being a bloke of average townie awareness, thanks for the viewpoints to further my education guys. truly.

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Wow! So how do I have the misfortune of having absolutely all of the 1% that isn't fenced nationally all in my area.

That's the trouble with statistics ... you can make of them what you want.

This might be an issue around the definition of a 'waterway' - IIRC a 'waterway' is 3m+ wide and contains water year round.