Hundreds of fish have died in a Hawke's Bay river that has become clogged with weeds.
Council contractors have been cutting weeds from the Clive River, but that appears to have made things worse.
Hndreds of dead and rotting mullet fish are scattered across the Clive River, near Hastings.
Aki Paipper came across the grisly scene over the weekend.
"This is 300 metres from the marae down to Whakatu Bridge," she described. "And the whole lot was engorged with fish."
Ms Paipper is from Operation Patiki - a volunteer group established in 2008 to clean up the river.
She says the fish appear to have died after being caught up in overgrown weeds cut loose by the council during routine clearing.
"The channel gets cut off, they have nowhere to go. So they try to jump up to find places.. then what happens when they land on the weeds, it's impossible for them to get out."
Hawke's Bay Regional Council says weeds are a "known problem" on the river, but warm weather has led to "exceptional" growth.
Typically, cut weeds would be washed out to sea, but the river's recent low flow has stopped that happening.
Ms Paipper says the council needs a new clearing method, as the river that she grew up on is suffering a slow death.
"This was once a mighty river that fed everybody here. Even if your dad lost his job or didn't have a job, he could still feed his family top-shelf fish."
The council is testing water samples to ensure there's nothing toxic in the river.
In the meantime, contractors will try again this week to clear away weeds, in the hope that life will return.
Newshub.
