Latest news with #BayofPlenty
RNZ News
10 hours ago
- General
- RNZ News
Why ‘cute' pets are now included in pest management plan
The red-eared slider turtle is capable of growing to the size of a dinner plate. Photo: Supplied/ NZME- Doug Sherring Bay of Plenty turtle owners must now securely house their pets, as the regional council changes its pest plan to prevent escapees. While unlikely to form a sewer-dwelling gang of martial arts fighters, escaped or released pets can harm ecosystems and native species. The Regional Pest Management Plan sets the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's priorities and goals for managing animal and pest plants, and includes rules to comply with the Biosecurity Act. A recent council review has seen new species added as pests and changes to how others are categorised. As of this week, all wallaby species known to be in the country and all introduced turtles will be included. Biosecurity team leader Shane Grayling said the pest management landscape was "ever changing". "The pests included in the [plan] and the ways to manage them have recently been reconsidered to reflect emerging pest issues." The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has adopted new rules for turtles, wallabies, and invasive exotic species of seaweed and freshwater clams. Photo: Collage/ NZME and supplied Turtles were included in the plan for the first time, covering all introduced freshwater types. Consultation on the topic showed split views on the need to manage turtles. Some submitters asked for introduced turtles to be included in the eradication programme, rather than sustained control. Some wanted a ban on the sale and breeding of them, while others did not believe turtles caused adverse environmental effects that needed managing. Grayling said climate change and the Rotorua area's warm geothermal soils increased the likelihood turtles could successfully breed in the wild. This included red-eared slider turtles, which have been found abandoned and breeding in Bay of Plenty waterways. Katikati reptile breeders Donna and Graeme Hannah, who have worked to raise awareness of the issue, told SunLive last year they were often called by people who found abandoned turtles. "They start off cute around the size of a 50c piece," Graeme Hannah said, but they could live 50 years and grow to the size of a dinner plate, needing more maintenance, and a bigger tank or pond, leading owners to abandon them. Sightings reported to the regional council included a female found nesting in Tauranga's Gordon Carmichael Reserve with 16 eggs. The turtles feed on small fish, plants, kōura (freshwater crayfish) and small birds such as ducklings, degrade water quality by disrupting the ecosystem, and displace wetland birds by taking over nesting sites. Under the new regional rules, turtle sales could continue, but pet owners needed to house them securely to prevent escape. "There have been instances previously where there has been no barrier around a pond to prevent the turtle from relocating elsewhere," Grayling said. He said, anecdotally, there had been increased reports of turtle sightings throughout the Bay of Plenty during the past couple of years. Most were red-eared sliders. Turtles were "inherently difficult to catch" and therefore controlling them was challenging. The council would respond to reported sightings in the wild and consider options for control on a case-by-case basis. "The focus for council, particularly in the short term, will be on education and advocacy for responsible turtle ownership." All wallaby species found in New Zealand are now included in the plan. Photo: Supplied via Local Democracy Reporting: The Rotorua Daily Post/ Andrew Warner The pre-amended plan only listed the dama wallaby as a pest, but Grayling said the need to include all known species found in New Zealand was identified, after the parma wallaby was discovered around the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes in 2023. Dama and parma were now listed under the progressive containment and eradication programme. Other species not known to be in the Bay of Plenty were under the exclusion programme. "The amendment is a technical one, and there is no change in how wallaby control is managed or funded," Grayling said. Efforts to control wallaby spread were funded with $1 million this year under the International Visitor Levy, including work in the Te Arawa area. Exotic caulerpa - a pest seaweed - was also included in the plan to minimise the risk of it entering the region. It has been described as the country's most serious marine biosecurity invasion in a lifetime. Corbicula - invasive exotic freshwater clams - were also listed as exclusionary pests. Other changes in the plan included treating certain species of conifers as pests, regardless of whether they were deliberately planted. The amendments prohibited new plantings of these species to ensure that the region's biodiversity was protected from the potential impact of pines growing in the wild. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Regional Wrap goes to ?p?tiki
A gateway to Tairawhiti East Cape from the north is the town of Opotiki in the Bay of Plenty. As a creative hub local organisation Opotiki Arts has a new leash of life with this year 95 members in their ranks, and since 1977 they've owned their own premises, a historic 1898 hall. Our guest on Regional Wrap this week, and a spokesperson for Opotiki Arts is something of a local cultural legend. Dorothy-Anne Wilson or Dot, as she's known to many, was a founding member of the Opotiki Community Arts Council back in the day. In 2017 she was awarded a Queen Service Medal for her contribution to art and community. The former manager of Opotiki Museum she joins us from the coast on Culture 101.
RNZ News
12-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Whakatāne operators at war with council over tourism funding cuts
Eastern Bay tourism operators were able to attend the Trenz25 tourism expo held in Rotorua in May through Whakatāne District Council's links with Tourism Bay of Plenty. Photo: LDR / supplied Tourism operators across the district are boycotting Whakatāne District Council for cutting funding to Tourism Bay of Plenty. The Whakatāne council has previously contributed $85,000 annually to the council controlled organisation of Tauranga City and Western Bay District councils. In response, a group of tourism operators across the district are boycotting all council-led tourism activity. This includes directing that all of their businesses be removed from council websites, that brochures and experiences be removed from the Whakatane i-Site, refusing to participate in promotional campaigns, event partnerships, and famils (familiarisation trips for agents) and calling for a full independent audit of the Whakatāne i-site and council tourism department. Among the tourism operators supporting the boycott are Tio Ohiwa Harbour Cruises and Oyster Experience owner Wini Geddes, Kohutapu Lodge and Whirinaki Footsteps Nadine Toe Toe, Larni Hepi from Whaitaki, KG Kayaks' Kenny McCracken, Beachpoint Apartments' Alison Stern, One 88 On Commerce's Malcolm Glen, Awakeri Rail Adventures Paul Francis and Takutai Adventure Company's Ollie Dobbin. Geddes said that more than 44 tourism operators and accommodation providers from around the Eastern Bay of Plenty would be hurt by Whakatāne council withdrawing this funding. The contribution linked them to domestic and international tourism promotion through Tourism New Zealand and New Zealand Māori Tourism. The boycotters said the $85,000 amounted to 2.8 percent of the council's annual $3 million tourism budget and a mere 0.14 percent of its $59 million total annual operating budget. Quoting Stats NZ, they said the region received $166 million in visitor spend annually, with approximately $20 million of that from international visitors. More than 10 percent of the workforce in Eastern Bay was through tourism. Geddes said the decision had been made in public-excluded meetings with no consultation or communication with local tourist operators. "We've only known about it for a month and the decision was made before Christmas with no consultation with the tourist operators at all." She said all of Tio Ohiwa's business came through either Tourism Bay of Plenty or support from other Regional Tourism Operators around the country, in particular RotoruaNZ, a CCO of Rotorua Lakes District Council, which Whakatāne council did not pay into. "In two weeks' time our connection to Tourism New Zealand will be cancelled and [the council] are trying to take it over by themselves." A response from council chief executive Steven Perdia to a Local Goverment Official Information and Meetings Act request sent by two of the operators, Toe Toe and Hepi, said Whakatāne council had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and funding agreement with Tourism Bay of Plenty in 2014, but since this had expired in 2019 no further MOU had been developed. The organisations had operated under a Letter of Intent to develop a revised MOU but "since the Whakaari eruption and Covid 19 and the catastrophic effects on the community and visitor economy with several business closures, both organisations have continued to work together in good faith". He said the council had a strong desire to reduce rates' increases and during last year's long-term plan budget funding was stopped to both economic development agency Toi EDA and Tourism Bay of Plenty. In a public-excluded section of its living together committee on 6 March this year, the council discussed reviewing the MOU with Tourism Bay of Plenty but to make cost savings decided to bring all tourism-related support in-house. Perdia told Local Democracy Reporting the matters were discussed in a public-excluded forum because the debate involved commercially sensitive matters, including contracts and funding agreements with third parties. "Council is trying to make itself a regional transport operator," Geddes said. "It has got no strategic plan, nothing, and they're expecting us to teach them how to get into the industry." Among the benefits of being part of Tourism Bay of Plenty was being included in the Bay of Plenty section of the Trenz Expo, New Zealand's biggest tourism trade show. "We are now taking bookings from China, India and the rest of Asia, Europe and the United States from those expos. Even our accomodation providers. We fill our hotels with tourists coming in. "[Whakatāne council] can't even get tickets to it." The council did not respond to questions from the Beacon around how it intended to promote the district to international tourists. Geddes said some tourism operators had already removed their brochures from the i-site. Toe Toe said the council shouldn't be making critical decisions in a field they didn't understand. "Tourism operators were completely left out in the cold around a decision that directly affects our businesses and survival." Stern, from Beachpoint Apartments, said she felt the decision was very shortsighted and would end up costing the council more in the long run. "If they don't want to focus on international tourism, then why are they planning to do exactly that - just without the professionals?" she said. "And how do they think they'll do it better for less than $85,000? This is going to end up costing the ratepayers more, not less." LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
10-06-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Weather: More than a hundred homes without power in Bay of Plenty
Stormy weather is passing over the North Island. Photo: RNZ/ Calvin Samuel Power is out in parts of the upper North Island as bad weather passes over . Earlier severe thunderstorm warnings have now been lifted, but a heavy rain watch remains in place for Bay of Plenty. PowerCo's outage map shows about 170 properties in Western Bay of Plenty are without electricity. Earlier outages in Auckland and Northland appear to be resolved. Niwa principal scientist Chris Brandolino told Checkpoint the place you don't want to be when there is lightning in and around your area is outside. "You definitely don't want to be on the water or on the beach or under a single tree in a paddock. Lightning is lazy, lightning is going to go for the tallest thing out there." He said the safest place to be is inside, away from windows: "There is an expression - when thunder roars, head indoors." Brandolino explained that thunder is a result of lightning. "Lightning is so hot - roughly five times hotter than the surface of the sun - it expands the air quite violently and then the air comes back, and it's that process that creates the thunder and loud noise." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
09-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Highest number of 15-year-olds drop out of school since 2007
Last year 1376 teens were allowed to leave school before the age of 16. Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller More 15-year-olds are being allowed to leave school, Education Ministry figures show. In both 2023 and 2024 the number of early leavers was higher than any year since 2007. The ministry said 1376 teens were allowed to leave before the age of 16 last year, though the figure was preliminary because some might have later returned to school. In 2023, 1291 15-year-olds were granted early leaving exemptions, giving an early leaving rate of 20 per 1000 15-year-olds. However, Māori students were granted exemptions at a rate of 47 per 1000 15-year-olds and accounted for 761 of the 2023 exemptions. The figures also showed Northland had the highest rate of early leaving exemption at 61 per 1000, followed by Nelson with 42 and Bay of Plenty with 41. A ministry report on the 2023 data showed several schools in the group classified as facing the most socio-economic barriers had early leaving rates ranging from 150 to nearly 350 per 1000 15-year-olds. The report said the number of applications for early leaving exemptions reached more than 70 per 1000 in the early 2000s, but a rule change in 2007 dropped the rate to 11. "Between 2008 and 2012, the rate of early leaving exemptions continued to decrease and remained at a consistently low level. Following the 2008 global financial crisis, from 2009 to 2014 the unemployment rates for 15- to 19-year-olds were very high (over 18 percent) and this may have affected the number of requests for an early leaving exemption. Since 2014, the number of approved early leaving exemptions has been increasing. In 2014, there were 362 approved early leaving exemptions, increasing to 1291 in 2023," it said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
