Memo to Mike Lee, cows are not pufferfish

In a major case of biological misidentification, farmers are demanding an apology from Auckland Regional Council (ARC) Chairman, Mike Lee, after he fingered farmers last week as a possible cause of Auckland’s toxic algae bloom.   The toxin, Tetrodotoxin, was instead identified last Friday and is found only in marine animals.

“Cows are not pufferfish Mr Lee, so man-up and apologise for what was a cheap shot at agriculture,” says Philip York, a Federated Farmers Board member, based in Auckland.

“When was the last time a council in Auckland was prosecuted for a sewage overflow?  Councils seem to believe that mitigation means a warning sign not to swim or collect shellfish.  It’s time for councils to walk the same walk they expect from everyone else.

“What Mr Lee didn’t tell people is that farmers are visible and regularly audited against consent conditions.  Wilful polluters are rightfully prosecuted and that’s a lot more than can be said for many councils, given the number of council related sewage overflows.

“In contrast to Mr Lee’s comments, I understand that water quality tests in the Firth of Thames shows water quality has not deteriorated.  In fact, modern farm practices and land management may now be having a positive effect on water quality.  It’s no surprise that many marine farms are located in rural areas.

“Perhaps Mr Lee should start reading his own council reports to see what impact 1.4 million people, industries and more than 650,000 vehicles has upon the Auckland marine environment. 

“Last year’s ARC report on the Tamaki Estuary shows the negative impact of urbanisation and the number of exotic species now endemic in Auckland’s waterways.

“Other reports show that sedimentation is pollution in its own right and with Auckland undergoing massive urban expansion, urban run-off has zinc and copper concentrations exceeding his council’s ’Response Criterion Red’ in some tidal creeks.

“Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) come from the emissions of more than 650,000 motor vehicles and this eventually enters waterways too.  The most recent 2008 study from 13 Auckland monitoring sites noted a number of ‘emerging chemicals of concern.’ 

“Cities are an environmental-economic trade-off because humans massively modify the environment in which they live and humans produce waste.

“It’s high time for Mr Lee to end this rural blame game because town and country should be working with one another, not against each other,” Mr York concluded.