Napier City Council contractors did not follow its code of practice when excavating a drain, and eels likely died as a result.
A witness, who didn’t want to be named, said on August 4 a digger with an earth bucket designed for shingle and earth, removed material from the base of a drain alongside Cato Rd — near Wharerangi Lawn Cemetery — which included plants, mud and eels.
“The material was then trucked directly to an earth landfill, where the eels were buried alive,” the witness claimed.
Napier City Council says it’s impossible to know how many eels died during the incident, but similar-sized excavations typically brought up between 10 and 15 eels.
The witness said he estimated the number of deaths could be anywhere up to 100.
The council’s executive director of infrastructure services Russell Bond said the council was disappointed the incident took place.
It had contacted local Post Settlement Governance Entity Mana Ahuriri to notify them of it.
“We are in the process of developing a standard operating procedure for NCC staff and contractors for tasks including roadside drain cleaning,” Bond said.
“While the Ahuriri Alliance was cleaning a roadside drain, one load of unchecked material was delivered to a clean fill site. The Alliance was subsequently made aware of the need for process controls.
“From that point, procedures to release any eels captured during the excavation works were implemented.
“[This included] spreading the excavated material on the bank beside the drain and staff sorting through it to put any eels back into the drain.
“After the correct procedure was followed, approximately 12 eels were rescued from the material spread on the drain bank,” Bond said.
He said that when the standard operating procedure was in place, it should prevent eels from being unnecessarily taken during a job.
The code of practice also calls for a stream evaluation survey before work on waterways, with eels, fish, or other megafauna found in it, removed before work starts.
Council said in this case the incorrect digger bucket was used on the digger and pre-work evaluations were not done.
The witness claimed it was the third time they had seen Napier City Council staff repeating the same process.
In 2019, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council was investigated by the Ministry for Primary Industries after hundreds of eels were uplifted in tonnes of mud cleared from drains near Puketapu.
The mud was dumped on a riverbank and resulting in the deaths of many of them.
No one was prosecuted, however, the regional council set up a working group with representatives from Hastings district and Napier city councils, the Department of Conservation, local iwi and Hawke’s Bay Fish and Game to come up with the new code of practice.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
