THE WAY WE WERE
SO WHAT'S THE
FUTURE FOR THE SELWYN RIVER..? COULD THE
ANSWER LIE NEXT DOOR? WAIREWA, OR LAKE FORSYTH, IS SO POLLUTED SOME SAY ITS
DYING - SOME EVEN SAY IT'S ALREADY DEAD.
IT'S WHERE MY FAMILY HAVE HAD A BACH FOR GENERATIONS AND TONIGHT I WANT
TO TAKE YOU THERE TO FIND OUT HOW IT GOT SO BAD, AND WHETHER THERE'S ANY HOPE
FOR TURNING AROUND A POISONED WATERWAY...
======================================
Music - A
Delicate Light
FX
VX: MOON
COMING OUT FROM CLOUD
VX: MIRIAMA
AND TE REREHUA PUTTING BATTERIES INTO TORCHES
Upsot
Miriama: We're gonna need this torch for our night time adventure ...
V/O: WHEN I
WAS A KID ...
Upsot
Te Rerehua: Let's
turn it on mummy and see if it works aye ...
V/O: EELING
WAS A TIME HONOURED TRADITION IN MY FAMILY …
VX:
MIRIAMA, TE REREHUA AND MARY WALKING ACROSS YARD WITH TORCHES
Upsot
Miriama: This is
just like what mummy used to do when I was your age ... we'd put our warm
clothes on and head down to the lake with our torches.
VX:
MIRIAMA, TE REREHUA AND MARY WALKING DOWN TO LAKE
V/O:
CRUNCHING STONES UNDERFOOT, THE WHIPPING WIND, FLASHING TORCHES … A SPECIAL
TIME BUT NOT UNIQUE ... GENERATIONS HAD GONE BEFORE AND WE WERE JUST ONE OF
MANY EELING FAMILIES ...
VX:
REFLECTION OF TORCHES IN WATER - WS OF ALL THREE STANDING AT EDGE OF DRAIN
Upsot
Miriama: ... you
remember this mum we'd lay on the stones and you'd tell us stories ... and we'd
look at the beautiful stars ... and it was very magical ... everybody else was
catching eels and if we talked too loudly they'd say sshhh
quiet.. can you imagine that?
Fade to
black
Music &
FX
PTC: But
when the sun rises tomorrow we won't have any eels, in fact there's no telling
when we'll feel safe to have eels at day-break ever again.
Music -
Calm Meditation
FX
VX: DAWN
BREAKING OVER LAKE & GVS OF GREEN WATER
V/O: THIS
IS WAIREWA, OR LAKE FORSYTH, TODAY ... IT MAY LOOK BENIGN, BUT IT'S POISONED
AND POISONOUS, RIFE WITH BLUE-GREEN ALGAE ...
IAEAN: ... if
someone fell in and ingested probably 5mls of the nodulera
blue green algae ... they would have liver trouble ... and possibly if they
ingested enough it could you know cause death.
MIRIAMA:
So people could die getting in that lake?
IAEAN:
They could.
VX: MIRI AND
IAEAN WALKING DOWN TO LAKE EDGE & THEN LOOKING OUT
V/O: IAEAN
CRANWELL IS A NGAI TAHU TANGATA TIAKI OR GUARDIAN OF WAIREWA AND AN ENVIRONMENT
CANTERBURY COUNCILLOR - WHICH CONTROLS THE LAKE WITH DOC, MPI, AND CHRISTCHURCH
CITY COUNCIL - BUT IAEAN'S RUNANGA, WAIREWA, FEEL THE WEIGHT OF RESPONSIBILITY.
MIRIAMA:
Is this lake dying?
IAEAN:
... this is who we are this lake. if
this lake dies, you know, us as tangata tiaki, us as kaitiaki, we haven't done our job.
Music &
FX
VX: NGAI
TAHU EELING VIDEO
V/O: THIS
IS THE LAKE AT ITS WORST ... GREEN SLUDGE, DYING EELS ...
..BUT TO
TRULY UNDERSTAND THE WORST OF TIMES ... YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE BEST...
FX
MASSES OF
MIGRATING EELS MADE WAIREWA AN IMPORTANT AND FAMOUS FOODBASKET FOR LOCAL MAORI
... THE TRADITIONS MY FAMILY FOLLOW OF MAHINGA KAI, THE GATHERING AND
SHARING OF FISH AND BIRDLIFE ... WERE SET OVER HUNDREDS OF YEARS ...
VX: MARY,
MIRIAMA & RAY LOOKING AT PHOTOS AROUND TABLE
Upsot
Miriama: And there's
Uncle Jim ... that was in the days when there were plenty of eels about ...
V/O: MY DAD
RAYNOL, FIRST BROUGHT MY MUM MARY OUT TO THE LAKE WHEN SHE WAS JUST 20 YEARS
OLD.
Upsot
Miriama: Ooh look at
that one, racy lady outside the old bach ...
V/O: AND
MUM'S WANTED TO PROTECT IT EVER SINCE ...
Upsot
Miriama: What's this
... this is the story
of you getting becoming a bit of an activist on the lakefront ... 1983.
Mary:
Remember the wee dog Goldie?
Miriama:
Yeah.
PTC: So the
first sign for us as a family that something was seriously wrong on this lake
was about 30 odd years ago we took the dingy out and we had our dog Goldie with
us in the boat she jumped out and had a bit of a swim and when we got back to
shore she was completely covered in some green stuff we had no idea what it was
we washed her off but a few days later she was dead.
VX: MARY,
MIRIAMA & RAY LOOKING AT PHOTOS AROUND TABLE
Upsot
Mary: I don't think we've got any photos of Goldie.
Miriama:
There is that not her? That's Goldie isn't it?
Mary:
No, Goldie was a little wee thing ...
V/O: MUM
RANG THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES, BUT WASN'T THRILLED WITH THEIR LACK OF URGENCY ...
Upsot
Mary: So I phoned them to tell them what had
happened ...and he said oh it's only dangerous to mammals ...
Miriama:
Don't worry ... no dad, mammals ... only dangerous to Maoris [laughter] ...
You'd have been in big trouble eh Dad, hahaha
Mary: But
what bothered me was that there were no warning signs ...
Miriama: ...
but you got your sign.
Mary:
Got the sign yeah one sign [LAUGHS] so I was not impressed ...
VX:
BIRDLINGS FLAT SIGN - MAIN WARNING SIGN
V/O: MUM'S
SMALL SIGN ON THE ROAD INTO BIRDLINGS FLAT IS LONG GONE ... BUT
NOW ...THERE IS A BIG FLASH SIGN RIGHT BY THE WATER, WARNING OF THE
DANGERS.
IAEAN: We've
had, you know, stock, sheep, cows ... family pets etc
die from, from ingesting water from the lake.
MIRIAMA: how
bad is it right now, i mean, Is this the worst that
it's ever been?
IAEAN: ...
in March last year it was worse ... but it's the first time I've ever seen that
affect the lake the whole year and talking to our kaumatua,
it's the first time for them as well.
VX: 2016
& 2017 LAKE GVS
V/O: SO
WHAT CAUSED THESE PROBLEMS? WELL, UNLIKE THE SELWYN RIVER, AFFLICTED BY
NITRATES, WAIREWA'S POLLUTION IS CAUSED MAINLY BY PHOSPHORUS FROM VOLCANIC SOIL
... WHEN THE HILLS WERE STRIPPED OF TREES TO HELP BUILD CHRISTCHURCH AND MAKE
WAY FOR FARMS
IAEAN: It's
a legacy issue ... when the lake was deforested 160 years ago you know, when
you cut the trees down and it rains ... where does all the sediment go? It'll go down to the rivers and into the lake
... so we might have in some areas one metre to 1.5 metres of phosphorus sludge
on the bottom of our lake.
VX: DRONE
FOOTAGE OF LAKE
V/O: IN
FACT, THINGS HAVE BECOME SO CHRONIC THAT THE DAY BEFORE WE FILMED, A RAHUI WAS
PUT ON THE LAKE ... AN UNPRECEDENTED ACTION BANNING PEOPLE FROM TAKING ANY
EELS, ANY TUNA. IN ESSENCE, PUTTING A STOP TO MAHINGA
KAI.
VX: NGAI TAHU
FOOTAGE
IAEAN:
The tuna is who we are here ... to not have a, a season is ... it makes the the heart cry ... our tipuna
would be turning.
Music: Muriwai B
VX: MIRIAMA
UNDER WHATA WITH CHARLIE
Upsot
Miriama: So
this these are your gaffes here Charlie these are pretty flash.
Charlie: Yeah
but that's what they call ... space age technology.
Miriama: Yeah that's right ... cause we used to have
wooden ones.
VX: CHARLIE
ON FARM BIKE
V/O:
CHARLIE ZIMMERMAN IS, LIKE IAEAN, A TANGATA TIAKI OF THE LAKE ... EVERYDAY HE
PATROLS THESE DRAINS ... DUG BY EELERS TO CATCH TUNA AS THEY MIGRATE TO THE SEA
... CHARLIE'S KEEN TO KEEP THE OLD WAYS ALIVE ... BUT IT'S A CHALLENGE WITH A
RAHUI IN PLACE ...
VX: MIRIAMA
AND CHARLIE BY DRAIN
MIRIAMA:
That kind of boggles the brain really because for me Wairewa
and Birdlings has always been about the eeling.
CHARLIE:
... I know it'll upset a lot of eelers but it's what
we need to do to keep people safe from going ahead and help themselves.
MIRIAMA:
Will you miss eeling?
CHARLIE:
Oh for sure for sure you know this is the second year
in a row that I haven't taken eels so my freezer's getting a little bit slim
...
PTC: So
if it's polluted, dying, dead, is that the end ... or is there hope? There are some who say that Wairewa could be the model, for how to transform and save a
poisoned and dying waterway.
Music &
FX
IAEAN: We
seen a lot of people talk the talk, but we thought no, we're going to walk the
walk, you know we've probaby put in over a million
dollars into this project but we're not finished.
VX: DRONE
FOOTAGE SHOWING CANAL - NGAI TAHU VIDEO
OVERLAY
IAEAN: What we have done we believe is unique in Aotearoa New Zealand ...
V/O: THEIR
SOLUTION ... BIO ENGINEERING ... INCLUDING THIS CANAL, ALLOWING THEM TO OPEN
AND FLUSH THE LAKE ... AND TWO YEARS AGO, THINGS WERE LOOKING GOOD ... AQUATIC
PLANT LIFE WAS FLOURISHING ... BUT THEN A FLOOD BROUGHT DOWN EVEN MORE SEDIMENT
... THE QUESTION NOW - WHETHER TO DREDGE ...?
IAEAN:
It's the only way of getting rid of the phosphorus... there's a hundred mill
fresh water fund out there at the moment, we only need $20 million ...
MIRIAMA: so
how realistic is it then?
IAEAN:
Well I mean, maybe you can do bits over time ...
MIRIAMA: if
you didn't do anything how close, if you didn't do anything how close to death
is this lake?
02:24:50:00
IAEAN: um
we had one scientist say well it's, with all coastal lakes it'll eventually,
you know, get so shallow and then it'll just turn into a kind of a swampy
anyway. But I was like no, no, no, no,
we don't want that. We don't want that legacy on us, you know,
VX: GVS
AROUND LAKE
IAEAN: We
need to fence all the streams ... fence off the rivers and plant ... we want it
swimmable, but probably more than that we want it fit for Mahika
Kai ... we want a new standard called Mahika Kai.
Music:
Ariana Tikao - Titi Whakatai Arorua
MIRIAMA: How
do you feel when you when you stand here and and look
at the lake?
IAEAN: I
love it ... when you're laying down on the shingle when you go eeling ... you could imagine your tupuna being here and and doing the same thing ... nothing's changed you know if
you can't put food on ... the plate to feed your whanau I mean what's the
point?
Music &
FX
VX: CHARLIE
& MIRIAMA WITH EEL IN HIS KITCHEN.
CHARLIE: ...
for me it's important that our Kaumatuas are looked
after ... our visitors or manuhiri ... that they do go away with a feed.
MIRIAMA:
So where'd you dig this up from?
CHARLIE:
Out of my freezer.
MIRIAMA:
[Laughter] This is like gold ...You wouldn't want to be eating that any time
soon, ration it out ...
CHARLIE:
Bit at a time, bit at a time ...
MIRIAMA:
I keep getting whiffs of my childhood [laughter] ... I remember walking through
the whata through the drying racks and all the eels
hanging down and oh it was so cool ...
CHARLIE: It's
good having those memories ...
MIRIAMA: it is, yeah
Music
FX
VX:
MIRIAMA, TE REREHUA & MARY WALKING DOWN TO BEACH
V/O: THE
HOPE IS ... WAIREWA'S TRADITIONS DON'T BECOME JUST THAT ... MEMORIES ...
Upsot
Miriama: You used
to see eels coming from the lake to the ocean?
Mary:
... it was like two black ropes stretching right across ... and I ran back to
the old bach and told all the guys and they all
jumped up and grabbed their gaffs and headed out.
Miriama: [LAUGHS]
Really? Totally took advantage of the eel migration.
Mary:
Absolutely.
Miriama:
I thought you were gonna say they all were like oh my
gosh let's go and see instead they grabbed their gaffs ...
VX: 3 FACES
IN PROFILE LOOKING AT SEA
Thought
track Miriama: I sometimes wonder if Te Rerehua ... when she has her
own children ... if there are gonna be eels in that
lake if there's gonna be a lake even to visit.
Mary:That
would be my hope.
Music: Muriwai A
VX: RECAP
PREVIOUS SEQUENCES
V/O: SO WHY
ARE THESE WATERWAYS ARE IMPORTANT ... THEY SUSTAIN US. THE LAKES AND
RIVERS REPRESENT OUR WAY OF LIFE. THE MEMORIES WE MAKE. THE TRADITIONS WE HOLD
DEAR ....
VX: TE
REREHUA & MIKE BUILDING WITH DRIFTWOOD
V/O: AND
HOPE TO PASS ONTO OUR CHILDREN AND THEIRS ...
Upsot
Te Rerehua:
we just keep doing it dadda remember we don't give up
...
VX: WS
WALKING ALONG BEACH
V/O: AND IF
WE CAN'T KEEP THEM ALIVE...
VX: WS
WALKING ALONG BEACH - 3S FROM BEHIND AS TE REREHUA GIVES MARY A KISS
Thought
track Mary: It would break my heart Miriama it would break
my heart we've got such a history here ... not just for my children but for so
many people who brought their children up out here.
Miriama:
So you gotta have hope.
Mary:
Absolutely.
======================================
BACK ANNOUNCE...
THE RAHUI
REMAINS IN PLACE, AND TOMORROW THE LAKE WILL BE OPENED TO THE SEA TO ALLOW THE
EELS TO BEGIN THEIR MIGRATION.
IN FUTURE,
NGAI TAHU HOPES TO GAIN OWNERSHIP OF THE LAKE-BED FROM DOC.