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Residents of Waikouaiti, a town in New Zealand's South Island have been told their tap water contains lead and is not fit to drink or use for cooking. Reported levels of lead are 40 times the...

22 December 2020: A media report (https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/123792835/ashburton-lake-left-looking-like-pea-brown-soup-after-toxic-algae-bloom) states that Lake Clearwater, in New Zealand's...

The NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers has reported on a serious decline in water quality in the South Island's Canterbury region.

And the root of the problem? "The major causes were over-takes...

The general election held on 17 October has resulted in a Labour Party victory, although there was a strong
Green Party result and the Greens will be represented in Parliament too. The Greens are a...

29 July 2020: The NZ government has today announced plans to repeal the Resource Management Act (our principal statute for dealing with the physical environment). The decision is based on a report...

Thank you for your comments, Mark. I guess it is not all doom and gloom here in NZ (I fished Lake Taupo recently and got some good fish) but the overall
trend respecting our water quality is not...

19 June 2020

After setting up a committee to advise on how to properly manage and effectively protect water resources, the New Zealand government has decided on a policy that, in the view of...

Nice article, Tom. We are all just passing through, so it pays to enjoy all the small things, besides catching fish, that can make for a great day on the river.

Your amazing wildlife is one of...

Update: 8 August 2020: back in 2017 an item was added about a conservation group, the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society Incorporated, which won a court case preventing public land being...

A proposal is on foot to start a rafting business on the Mataura river, one of New Zealand's best brown trout streams. The Mataura is not a white water river of the kind usually used for rafting.
...

Sad to relate, but the dairy industry has done it again. In June 2019 the NZ courts have imposed record fines on corporate dairy farmers for river pollution: see Radio NZ report at...

The latest bad news item for flyfishers, courtesy of New Zealand's dairy farming industry:...

Reality check: New Zealand anglers are facing massive problems with water quality. A recent report (one of many over the years) gives the detail; see...

"Tests have confirmed campylobacter had contaminated the Havelock North water supply bore, affecting 4100 people in the area" - news item, August 19, 2016.

An outbreak of this water-borne...

No lives lost as far as I know, but the locals were totally unnerved by the latest earthquake. It had its genesis somewhere out on the offshore seabed and took the scientists by surprise.

The New...

Controversy has erupted over a herd of cows being allowed access to a New Zealand high country lake which contains a trout fishery. The incident has become big news Down Under because the cows were...

Thanks for your comments.

The big dairy cooperative which dominates New Zealand farming put up another black mark recently (6 August).

It was convicted in court and find $NZ 174,000 for...

Thanks for offering your thoughts, Clint. Maybe the picture right now is not too bad in NZ, we have quite good fishing still, but we are on a downward spiral, for sure and it is the long term...

Those flyfishers in the good old USA and elsewhere who cherish a vision of New Zealand trout streams as clear, sylvan waterways can forget it, unless they have very deep pockets and can work the...

Hi Donald

What a beautifully tied version of a traditional pattern. I have found the March Brown, tied as a classic nymph with wing case etc ,works wonders on backwater browns in my part of the...