Te Kai Whakarongo Issue 1225 | 1 September 2026 | Proudly locally owned and operated
theinformer.co.nz
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CONNECTING COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE COROMANDEL PENINSULA
Hooray for grass carp, but long journey ridiculous BY PAULINE STEWART
C
See page 2 Volunteers Krystine Banicevich and Wendy Bradshaw collecting on Daffodil Day.
ooks Beach has cause for celebration - the grass carp for their two lakes have been approved. Don’t pop the corks yet though. There is still the matter of containment screens that have to be built (commissioned by TCDC) and approved by DOC and then installed. Radio CFM published a good article on their Facebook page by Jusin Tuberan re the approval of the grass carp which highlighted the delays by both Council, TCDC staff, and disagreement from Ngati Hei. It gave cause for admonishing the role of the council and some staff processes and also had a stern word for central government. Excerpt - “Councillor John Grant agreed, saying the journey highlights the extremely convoluted systems councils have to work through to get multiple parties to complete consultation processes and sign off approval.” He also added, “This is a great example of what the government needs to fix.” Then there is the Press Release from TCDC – informative and positive. Some of it is included here:“The Department of Conservation has approved a release of grass carp, also known as white amur (Ctenopharyngodon idella), to help manage overabundant native vegetation growth in the two stormwater lakes at Cooks Beach. “The Cooks Beach lakes systems are
Aquatic weed has become a smelly and unsightly pest at Cooks Beach. Supplied by TCDC
man-made lakes that form part of the Thames-Coromandel District Council’s stormwater network. In recent years, the lakes have experienced increased aquatic plant growth. “The release of grass carp follows years of lobbying from local residents and ratepayers to the Council for grass carp to help manage vegetation growth. Council had previously tried various vegetation removal methods at the lakes, including mechanical weed harvesters and targeted herbicides, but these were not effective.” I guess the Cooks Beach residents should be very grateful – after all the carp are coming. It is commendable the Press Releases by CFM and TCDC share accuracies. Continued on page 3
Father’s Day treat – All movies for $12 at Mercury Twin Cinemas