Man sentenced for discharge breach that killed thousands of eels

Gore man Bryson Clark was today fined $130,000 and an enforcement order was put in place in the Gore District Court. He admitted discharging leachate from farm tailings, leachate from sileage, and dairy effluent onto land in circumstances where it could enter water in February 2024.

Environment Southland compliance manager Donna Ferguson said the impact of the event was among the most serious the team had investigated.

“The deaths of thousands of eels had been devastating, with more than 2,500 bodies collected in a 10km clean-up zone.”

Throughout the clean-up staff were supported by Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku.

A call to Environment Southland’s 24/7 pollution hotline from a member of the public sparked the investigation that enabled us to pin-point the source and successfully prosecute the offender.

“This case highlights the importance of the public as our eyes and ears. If anything looks unusual, please let us know so we can check it out as soon as possible.”

The Low Burn stream was severely impacted as a result. It could take up to ten years for the biological communities to repopulate the stream and the ecosystem to fully recover, Donna Ferguson said.

General manager regulatory services Hayley Fitchett said Environment Southland takes a consistent approach in all its compliance activities, ranging from education, engagement, enabling and enforcement.

In the 2023-24 year, 696 environmental incidents were reported in Southland, resulting in one prosecution, 39 warnings, 30 abatement notices and 40 infringement fines being issued.

Other recent and ongoing prosecutions include:

• In November last year Marshall Road Farm Trustees Ltd and company owner Reza Abdul-Jabbar were fined a total of $71,500 under the Resource Management Act, having earlier admitted two charges of breaching a rule relating to discharge, and two charges of failure to comply with an abatement notice at Waituna.
• In February this year Gladvale Farms Ltd was found guilty of two charges relating to a dairy discharge event in 2019 at Oreti Plains. A sentencing date for that company is yet to be set.
• An Invercargill company is expected to appear in the Invercargill District Court this month on charges relating to a discharge to the Otepuni Stream.