Greenpeace Aotearoa has altered the Rakaia salmon statue in Canterbury, turning it into a cartoon dead fish in protest of dairy industry environmental destruction.
Rakaia made headlines last week when it was revealed that the town’s fishing competition would no longer involve any fishing, due to the dwindling numbers and size of Rakaia salmon. The reason? Decreased water flow due to irrigation for intensive dairying.
Greenpeace Aotearoa freshwater campaigner Will Appelbe says, “There’s plenty of fish in the sea… but not in the Rakaia river.
“Rakaia’s famous salmon fishing competition is set to take place in two weeks, but for the first time, it won’t involve any actual fishing. The blame for that sits squarely with the dirty dairy industry.”
Greenpeace activists replaced the salmon statue’s eyes with cartoon-style crosses, and added a speech bubble reading ‘Fonterra killed my family’.
So much water has been taken from the Rakaia for irrigation that it can no longer sustain the fish population of times past due to reduced river flows, increasing temperature and sediment levels.
Appelbe says, “New Zealand has so many cows that there isn’t enough grass to feed them, so the dirty dairy industry relies on irrigation systems to cheat the process and grow more grass.
“Fonterra’s oversized dairy herd has been draining rivers like the Rakaia dry for the sake of their fat bottom line – and now the famous Rakaia salmon are dying out because of it, making the yearly fishing competition a thing of the past.
“To protect the Rakaia – and all the other rivers like it – we must stop dairy expansion now, and reduce herd sizes back to safe ecological limits.”
