September 19, 2012
Eel and weeds enter power debate
A spokesperson for Waikato iwi Ngati Koroki Kahukura says the Government should look at how Mighty River’s profits could be used to help iwi along the river, rather than continue with its efforts to sell shares.
The iwi, along with Ngati Haua, Raukawa and other affected tribes, is boycotting tonight’s consultation hui in Hamilton with Finance Minister Bill English.
Willie Te Aho says the iwi made it clear earlier this year it opposed the asset sales, and its concerns are first and foremost about the way Lake Karapiro has choked the river with weed and affected eels.
“We are very much an eel people, an eel culture. A million elvers a year get trapped by the front of the Karapiro dam. Some of them are redistributed by a Pakeha organisation up the river and not in the areas we are associated with. When eels mature, they head back out to see and in this case they get caught in the turbines,” Mr Te Aho says.