Latest news with #SusanBotting
Scoop
6 days ago
- General
- Scoop
Mangawhai Risks $100 Million Economic Disaster If Sandspit Fails: Warning
Article – Susan Botting – Local Democracy Reporter Mangawhai sandspit has lost more than 420,000 tonnes of its locally-unique non-replenishing sand. Many in the community worry about its future as a result. Mangawhai sandspit has recently been confirmed to have lost more than 420,000 tonnes of its locally-unique non-replenishing sand. Many in the community worry about its future as a result. Mangawhai sandspit is described as 'a hotbed of coastal management considerations' by a University of Auckland academic. The rare landform is one of just five drumstick-shaped sandspits in New Zealand. Its sand was predominantly made hundreds of thousands of years ago from volcanic explosions in the central North Island, delivered by the Waikato River. It's at the epicentre of competing tensions between seabed sand mining, local and central government bureaucracy, New Zealand's rarest bird, community groups, conservation, harbour health, mana whenua, population growth, tourism, recreation and development. In the first of a two-part feature, Local Democracy Reporting Northland reporter Susan Botting looks at what sort of health report card those connected with the rare landform give it. New Zealand's fastest-growing coastal settlement risks a more than $100 million economic disaster if Mangawhai Sandspit fails, a community leader warns. The stark warning is from community group Mangawhai Matters member Dr Phil McDermott, a former Massey professor of resource and environmental planning. A second breach of the sandspit where sea washed in from the Pacific Ocean would hit the economy on many fronts, he says. McDermott was among a range of community leaders, councils, coastal experts and government organisations who raised their fears for the spit's future with Local Democracy Reporting Northland. They have overwhelmingly given the spit's health a bare pass of C report card, pointing to a range of reasons. Rising sea levels and intensifying storms are among the issues sounding warning bells. McDermott said the economic hit would be from plummeting property values, disappearing tourism, and fewer visitors. 'There are so many pressures including significant development,' McDermott said. Mangawhai Matters has successfully legally challenged unfettered Mangawhai development. The sandspit breached in 1978 after a huge storm. The resulting 600 metre channel split the three kilometre long, 3 square kilometre spit in half for more than a decade. The breach led to today's main northern harbour entrance filling up with sand as Mangawhai Harbour discharged via a new exit point to the sea. Renegade action by the local community known as 'the Big Dig' opened the channel. The blockage led to stagnating harbour water. House prices fell and properties weren't selling. Banks in some cases did not want to provide mortgage lending. Work to open the blockage and close the breach finally started in 1991. Mangawhai Sandspit's at the epicentre of competing tensions between seabed sand mining, local and central government bureaucracy, New Zealand's rarest bird, community groups, conservation, harbour health, mana whenua, population growth, tourism, recreation and development. Mangawhai Matters community group chair Doug Lloyd said surveying showed the harbour and sandspit were rated the most important feature of their local area. When Lloyd arrived in Mangawhai in 1989 there were about 600 people there. Now there are up to 20,000 over the summer peak. And there are more than 2000 new houses on the cards in several big developments. Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society (MHRS)'s Peter Wethey chairs the community group credited by many as having had a key role in the spit surviving to the degree it has. The society runs New Zealand's only dredging operation of its type, sucking up sand blown into the sea from Mangawhai Sandspit and putting it back onto the rare coastal landform. Wethey said the dredging was about keeping the harbour's ever-filling navigation channels open and protecting the spit with an about 800 metre long harbourside bund – effectively a man-made sand dune strip edging to protect it from future breaching. Longtime MHRS dredge operator Mark Vercoe said the process of sustainably delivering sand from the harbour floor to the prescribed location, that continued to strengthen spit protection, was an exacting one. Just over 5000 Kaipara District Council (KDC) Mangawhai Harbour catchment ratepayers pay $80 annually towards the society for its work. Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson said that money was well spent to protect the spit, echoing many in the community by saying the group had to navigate significant bureaucracy to do its work. Jepson said he believed too much of the society's funds and time were being wasted on bureaucracy when they were better spent on taking action. Northland Regional Council (NRC) governs consenting for the dredge's sand extraction with up to 50,000 cubic metres of sand dredgings allowed annually. More recently that quantity was not fixed but instead dependent on location and dredging depth. Dredging must take place between April and December each year, depending on where it happens and the values of those locations – outside the fairy tern breeding season. DoC rules on where the dredgings can go on the spit. DoC acting operations manager – Whangārei Sarah Newman-Watt, said the Mangawhai government wildlife refuge reserve was protected for its ecological significance, particularly for its critical nesting habitat for New Zealand's fairy tern/tara-iti and northern dotterel. She said the sandspit was the country's largest tara-iti breeding site with fewer than 45 individuals left. Fairy Tern Trust convenor and Mangawhai property owner of three decades Heather Rogan said the spit was critical for the bird's future. It was currently home to all but one of New Zealand's tara-iti nesting sites. University of Auckland coastal geomorphologist Professor Dr Mark Dickson said it was about how well the spit would do its job of protecting the Mangawhai community. The work of the community was essential. Thousands of sand dune plants, kilometres of sand fencing to trap sand, pest control work and dredgings from the harbour going onto the sandspit towards maintaining its resilience are among this work. Dickson said the spit would undoubtedly breach again if left to its natural cycles without this community input. 'The spit's not quite holding its own. It requires quite a level of intervention,' Dickson said. Save Our Sands spokesperson Ken Rawyard gave the spit a D health report card. He said DoC was prohibiting the re-establishment of critical vegetation cover on the spit due to concerns about the fairy tern. Newman-Watt said this was not the case. It was actively encouraging the re-establishment of appropriate dune vegetation – where it supported the sandspit's health and resilience and did not conflict with conservation goals. Fairy terns needed open shell patches with very little to no vegetation for nesting. 'At known nesting sites, DoC removes or limits vegetation to preserve these rare habitat conditions,' Newman-Watts said. Mangawhai sandspit was a dynamic system that required careful, site-specific management. NRC local coastal south councillor Rick Stolwerk acknowledged there were processes that needed to be navigated before the dredging began. He said the spit was not faring as well as it could, but community members were doing great work. Te Uri o Hau Environs representative Cindy Hempsall did not want to comment on Mangawhai sandspit when approached by Local Democracy Reporting Northland.
Scoop
6 days ago
- General
- Scoop
Mangawhai Risks $100 Million Economic Disaster If Sandspit Fails: Warning
Mangawhai sandspit has recently been confirmed to have lost more than 420,000 tonnes of its locally-unique non-replenishing sand. Many in the community worry about its future as a result. Mangawhai sandspit is described as "a hotbed of coastal management considerations" by a University of Auckland academic. The rare landform is one of just five drumstick-shaped sandspits in New Zealand. Its sand was predominantly made hundreds of thousands of years ago from volcanic explosions in the central North Island, delivered by the Waikato River. It's at the epicentre of competing tensions between seabed sand mining, local and central government bureaucracy, New Zealand's rarest bird, community groups, conservation, harbour health, mana whenua, population growth, tourism, recreation and development. In the first of a two-part feature, Local Democracy Reporting Northland reporter Susan Botting looks at what sort of health report card those connected with the rare landform give it. New Zealand's fastest-growing coastal settlement risks a more than $100 million economic disaster if Mangawhai Sandspit fails, a community leader warns. The stark warning is from community group Mangawhai Matters member Dr Phil McDermott, a former Massey professor of resource and environmental planning. A second breach of the sandspit where sea washed in from the Pacific Ocean would hit the economy on many fronts, he says. McDermott was among a range of community leaders, councils, coastal experts and government organisations who raised their fears for the spit's future with Local Democracy Reporting Northland. They have overwhelmingly given the spit's health a bare pass of C report card, pointing to a range of reasons. Rising sea levels and intensifying storms are among the issues sounding warning bells. McDermott said the economic hit would be from plummeting property values, disappearing tourism, and fewer visitors. "There are so many pressures including significant development," McDermott said. Mangawhai Matters has successfully legally challenged unfettered Mangawhai development. The sandspit breached in 1978 after a huge storm. The resulting 600 metre channel split the three kilometre long, 3 square kilometre spit in half for more than a decade. The breach led to today's main northern harbour entrance filling up with sand as Mangawhai Harbour discharged via a new exit point to the sea. Renegade action by the local community known as "the Big Dig" opened the channel. The blockage led to stagnating harbour water. House prices fell and properties weren't selling. Banks in some cases did not want to provide mortgage lending. Work to open the blockage and close the breach finally started in 1991. Mangawhai Sandspit's at the epicentre of competing tensions between seabed sand mining, local and central government bureaucracy, New Zealand's rarest bird, community groups, conservation, harbour health, mana whenua, population growth, tourism, recreation and development. Mangawhai Matters community group chair Doug Lloyd said surveying showed the harbour and sandspit were rated the most important feature of their local area. When Lloyd arrived in Mangawhai in 1989 there were about 600 people there. Now there are up to 20,000 over the summer peak. And there are more than 2000 new houses on the cards in several big developments. Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society (MHRS)'s Peter Wethey chairs the community group credited by many as having had a key role in the spit surviving to the degree it has. The society runs New Zealand's only dredging operation of its type, sucking up sand blown into the sea from Mangawhai Sandspit and putting it back onto the rare coastal landform. Wethey said the dredging was about keeping the harbour's ever-filling navigation channels open and protecting the spit with an about 800 metre long harbourside bund - effectively a man-made sand dune strip edging to protect it from future breaching. Longtime MHRS dredge operator Mark Vercoe said the process of sustainably delivering sand from the harbour floor to the prescribed location, that continued to strengthen spit protection, was an exacting one. Just over 5000 Kaipara District Council (KDC) Mangawhai Harbour catchment ratepayers pay $80 annually towards the society for its work. Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson said that money was well spent to protect the spit, echoing many in the community by saying the group had to navigate significant bureaucracy to do its work. Jepson said he believed too much of the society's funds and time were being wasted on bureaucracy when they were better spent on taking action. Northland Regional Council (NRC) governs consenting for the dredge's sand extraction with up to 50,000 cubic metres of sand dredgings allowed annually. More recently that quantity was not fixed but instead dependent on location and dredging depth. Dredging must take place between April and December each year, depending on where it happens and the values of those locations - outside the fairy tern breeding season. DoC rules on where the dredgings can go on the spit. DoC acting operations manager - Whangārei Sarah Newman-Watt, said the Mangawhai government wildlife refuge reserve was protected for its ecological significance, particularly for its critical nesting habitat for New Zealand's fairy tern/tara-iti and northern dotterel. She said the sandspit was the country's largest tara-iti breeding site with fewer than 45 individuals left. Fairy Tern Trust convenor and Mangawhai property owner of three decades Heather Rogan said the spit was critical for the bird's future. It was currently home to all but one of New Zealand's tara-iti nesting sites. University of Auckland coastal geomorphologist Professor Dr Mark Dickson said it was about how well the spit would do its job of protecting the Mangawhai community. The work of the community was essential. Thousands of sand dune plants, kilometres of sand fencing to trap sand, pest control work and dredgings from the harbour going onto the sandspit towards maintaining its resilience are among this work. Dickson said the spit would undoubtedly breach again if left to its natural cycles without this community input. "The spit's not quite holding its own. It requires quite a level of intervention," Dickson said. Save Our Sands spokesperson Ken Rawyard gave the spit a D health report card. He said DoC was prohibiting the re-establishment of critical vegetation cover on the spit due to concerns about the fairy tern. Newman-Watt said this was not the case. It was actively encouraging the re-establishment of appropriate dune vegetation - where it supported the sandspit's health and resilience and did not conflict with conservation goals. Fairy terns needed open shell patches with very little to no vegetation for nesting. "At known nesting sites, DoC removes or limits vegetation to preserve these rare habitat conditions," Newman-Watts said. Mangawhai sandspit was a dynamic system that required careful, site-specific management. NRC local coastal south councillor Rick Stolwerk acknowledged there were processes that needed to be navigated before the dredging began. He said the spit was not faring as well as it could, but community members were doing great work. Te Uri o Hau Environs representative Cindy Hempsall did not want to comment on Mangawhai sandspit when approached by Local Democracy Reporting Northland.
RNZ News
7 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Mangawhai risks $100 million economic disaster if sandspit fails: warning
Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society dredge operator Mark Vercoe on the sandspit where the barge in the background pumps sand along the black pipe beside him, to keep the harbour open and build up the protective sand dune barrier known as a bund wall that protects the sandspit from harbourside-generated erosion. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland Mangawhai sandspit has recently been confirmed to have lost more than 420,000 tonnes of its locally-unique non-replenishing sand . Many in the community worry about its future as a result. Mangawhai sandspit is described as "a hotbed of coastal management considerations" by a University of Auckland academic. The rare landform is one of just five drumstick-shaped sandspits in New Zealand. Its sand was predominantly made hundreds of thousands of years ago from volcanic explosions in the central North Island, delivered by the Waikato River. It's at the epicentre of competing tensions between seabed sand mining, local and central government bureaucracy, New Zealand's rarest bird, community groups, conservation, harbour health, mana whenua, population growth, tourism, recreation and development. In the first of a two-part feature, Local Democracy Reporting Northland reporter Susan Botting looks at what sort of health report card those connected with the rare landform give it. New Zealand's fastest-growing coastal settlement risks a more than $100 million economic disaster if Mangawhai Sandspit fails, a community leader warns. The stark warning is from community group Mangawhai Matters member Dr Phil McDermott, a former Massey professor of resource and environmental planning. A second breach of the sandspit where sea washed in from the Pacific Ocean would hit the economy on many fronts, he says. McDermott was among a range of community leaders, councils, coastal experts and government organisations who raised their fears for the spit's future with Local Democracy Reporting Northland. They have overwhelmingly given the spit's health a bare pass of C report card, pointing to a range of reasons. Rising sea levels and intensifying storms are among the issues sounding warning bells. Community group leaders Mangawhai Matters' Dr Phil McDermott (left) and chair Doug Lloyd say the settlement's iconic sandspit is highly valued by the local community Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland McDermott said the economic hit would be from plummeting property values, disappearing tourism, and fewer visitors. "There are so many pressures including significant development," McDermott said. Mangawhai Matters has successfully legally challenged unfettered Mangawhai development. The sandspit breached in 1978 after a huge storm. The resulting 600 metre channel split the three kilometre long, 3 square kilometre spit in half for more than a decade. The breach led to today's main northern harbour entrance filling up with sand as Mangawhai Harbour discharged via a new exit point to the sea. Renegade action by the local community known as "the Big Dig" opened the channel. Looking east across Mangawhai sandspit where sand from adjacent Mangawahi Harbour is piped onto prescribed locations under a formal Department of Conservation concession. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland The blockage led to stagnating harbour water. House prices fell and properties weren't selling. Banks in some cases did not want to provide mortgage lending. Work to open the blockage and close the breach finally started in 1991. Mangawhai Sandspit's at the epicentre of competing tensions between seabed sand mining, local and central government bureaucracy, New Zealand's rarest bird, community groups, conservation, harbour health, mana whenua, population growth, tourism, recreation and development. Mangawhai Matters community group chair Doug Lloyd said surveying showed the harbour and sandspit were rated the most important feature of their local area. When Lloyd arrived in Mangawhai in 1989 there were about 600 people there. Now there are up to 20,000 over the summer peak. And there are more than 2000 new houses on the cards in several big developments. Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society chair Peter Wethey. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society (MHRS)'s Peter Wethey chairs the community group credited by many as having had a key role in the spit surviving to the degree it has. The society runs New Zealand's only dredging operation of its type, sucking up sand blown into the sea from Mangawhai Sandspit and putting it back onto the rare coastal landform. Wethey said the dredging was about keeping the harbour's ever-filling navigation channels open and protecting the spit with an about 800 metre long harbourside bund - effectively a man-made sand dune strip edging to protect it from future breaching. Longtime MHRS dredge operator Mark Vercoe said the process of sustainably delivering sand from the harbour floor to the prescribed location, that continued to strengthen spit protection, was an exacting one. Just over 5000 Kaipara District Council (KDC) Mangawhai Harbour catchment ratepayers pay $80 annually towards the society for its work. Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson said that money was well spent to protect the spit, echoing many in the community by saying the group had to navigate significant bureaucracy to do its work. Jepson said he believed too much of the society's funds and time were being wasted on bureaucracy when they were better spent on taking action. Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society pumps sand from the local harbour back onto the spit each year. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland Northland Regional Council (NRC) governs consenting for the dredge's sand extraction with up to 50,000 cubic metres of sand dredgings allowed annually. More recently that quantity was not fixed but instead dependent on location and dredging depth. Dredging must take place between April and December each year, depending on where it happens and the values of those locations - outside the fairy tern breeding season. DoC rules on where the dredgings can go on the spit. DoC acting operations manager - Whangārei Sarah Newman-Watt, said the Mangawhai government wildlife refuge reserve was protected for its ecological significance, particularly for its critical nesting habitat for New Zealand's fairy tern/tara-iti and northern dotterel. She said the sandspit was the country's largest tara-iti breeding site with fewer than 45 individuals left. Fairy Tern Trust convenor and Mangawhai property owner of three decades Heather Rogan said the spit was critical for the bird's future. It was currently home to all but one of New Zealand's tara-iti nesting sites. University of Auckland coastal geomorphologist Professor Dr Mark Dickson said it was about how well the spit would do its job of protecting the Mangawhai community. The work of the community was essential. Mangawhai Sandspit's man-made, but looking quite natural, protective 800m long bund wall on the sandspit's western harbour shores. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland Thousands of sand dune plants, kilometres of sand fencing to trap sand, pest control work and dredgings from the harbour going onto the sandspit towards maintaining its resilience are among this work. Dickson said the spit would undoubtedly breach again if left to its natural cycles without this community input. "The spit's not quite holding its own. It requires quite a level of intervention," Dickson said. Save Our Sands spokesperson Ken Rawyard gave the spit a D health report card. He said DoC was prohibiting the re-establishment of critical vegetation cover on the spit due to concerns about the fairy tern. Newman-Watt said this was not the case. It was actively encouraging the re-establishment of appropriate dune vegetation - where it supported the sandspit's health and resilience and did not conflict with conservation goals. Fairy terns needed open shell patches with very little to no vegetation for nesting. "At known nesting sites, DoC removes or limits vegetation to preserve these rare habitat conditions," Newman-Watts said. Mangawhai sandspit was a dynamic system that required careful, site-specific management. NRC local coastal south councillor Rick Stolwerk acknowledged there were processes that needed to be navigated before the dredging began. He said the spit was not faring as well as it could, but community members were doing great work. Te Uri o Hau Environs representative Cindy Hempsall did not want to comment on Mangawhai sandspit when approached by Local Democracy Reporting Northland. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
13-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Christchurch tsunami sirens face axe after failed test, communication breakdowns
The sirens may be replaced with emergency mobile alerts. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting The number of tsunami sirens along the Christchurch coast could be cut to as few as four, after an alert system review that found they cause confusion and delays during emergencies. The city has 45 sirens between Brooklands and Taylors Mistake, but next week, Christchurch city councillors will consider a recommendation that would see them only positioned in evacuation zones with limited cell phone coverage. The report recommended the council primarily uses emergency mobile alerts to raise the alarm, in accordance with national and international best practice, moving from a "fragile, unreliable, over-complicated and inconsistent" alerting system to one that was "straightforward and effective". Fewer strategically positioned sirens - in the range of 4-6 - and emergency services, television, radio, website and social media messages would become the secondary alerting method. Christchurch's tsunami sirens failed to sound during a planned test in April , because the Auckland-based contractor responsible was dealing with a car crash outside their property at the time. The council initially blamed human error, then conceded having an emergency system so dependent on one person was unacceptable. The test was rescheduled for 13 July. The council said a "local-source" tsunami could inundate Christchurch and Banks Peninsula evacuation zones in less than 60 minutes, so its top priority was preventing loss of life with an alert system that gave a clear message to evacuate. The review noted sirens caused confusion and delays because: Civil Defence and Emergency Management manager Brenden Winder said the emergency mobile alert method aimed to minimise confusion. "In the rare event of a tsunami, our top priority is preventing loss of life," he said. "This relies on having a straightforward and effective alerting system, giving residents a clear message to evacuate. "Sirens are no longer considered to be a suitable primary tsunami alerting method, as they cause confusion and delay communities responding effectively. "Mobile alerts are used nationally as the main alerting method in an emergency. This sends a clear message straight to the user's phone on what action to take. "We want people to act quickly and decisively in an emergency, and a text alert provides that direction." Staff said another option to upgrade the existing 45 sirens and add 41 sirens for adequate coverage across a new national tsunami evacuation zone issued by the National Emergency Management Agency would come at a substantial cost to the council. Following the magnitude 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake in 2016, a communication breakdown meant Christchurch's sirens did not sound until two hours afterwards at 2am - an hour after Civil Defence issued an alert. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Northland Regional Council: Ratepayers Not Providing Huge Money Needed For Caulerpa Fight
Article – Susan Botting – Local Democracy Reporter The council would continue to work on the Government-funded $6.2 million development of the industrial-scale underwater tractor caulerpa removal tool in the Bay of Islands Omkiwi Cove until the end of 2025. Northland Regional Council says its ratepayers will not be putting up the huge amounts of money needed to continue the local and national $25 million fight against invasive caulerpa seaweed. Northland Regional Council (NRC) chair Geoff Crawford said his council had already put $1.25 million into the fight since the exotic pest was confirmed in the Bay of Islands in 2023. The council would continue to work on the Government-funded $6.2 million development of the industrial-scale underwater tractor caulerpa removal tool in the Bay of Islands Omākiwi Cove until the end of 2025. And there would be continued low-level ratepayer funding towards the council's active and important marine biosecurity surveillance and education roles for the next two years. But Crawford told an online Conquer Caulerpa Trust hui on Tuesday night (SUBS: May 27) that major funding was needed to continue the national caulerpa fight and the sort of money needed was not the regional council's role to provide. He said the question now became who would pay and how the battle was going to proceed. The fight against caulerpa was an expensive one. An NRC spend of $500,000 equated to a 1% regional council rates increase. Biosecurity New Zealand director of pest management John Walsh told the hui the Government had already put $24.9 million towards fighting caulerpa – 21/22 $1.2m, 22/23 $1.2m, 23/24 $8.5m and 24/25 $14m. But there was no Government spending for the 2025/2026 year that starts on July 1 outlined in his spend data provided to the hui. Crawford said later funding a major response such as caulerpa was not the council's role. That needed to be done by the Ministry for Primary Industries or co-funding with community-led groups such as Conquer Caulerpa. He said NRC had dug into its reserves to fund to date, so that ratepayers wouldn't be burdened, Walsh told the hui that although caulerpa was first confirmed in New Zealand at Aotea/Great Barrier Island in July 2021, it had been present there for several years prior to that. And the Bay of Islands' caulerpa confirmed at Te Rāwhiti almost two years later in May 2023, had in fact already been present when the pest seaweed was first confirmed at Great Barrier Island in 2021. The toxic seaweed, which competes with other species for space and affects the balance of local ecosystems, has spread to Northland, Auckland and Waikato since first being detected. NRC has played a key role in the battle against caulerpa for the last two years, pushing for and in part funding major innovation, surveillance, education and eradication efforts. This included the giant lawnmower-style unit being developed at Omākiwi Cove with an Opua-based marine company. Omākiwi Cove in the eastern Bay of Islands has been the epicentre of the caulerpa fight tool's development. The world-first underwater tractor is being developed with two other promising caulerpa fight tools – a rehabitat caulerapa chlorine treatment chamber and ultraviolet light treatment unit (for which a 40% bigger model was currently being manufactured in China). More than 70% of the Government's caulerpa spend this financial year has gone towards developing these tools. There were 437 people registered to attend the Northland-focused Conquer Caulerpa Trust hui. It was the first of its type in New Zealand with attendees from iwi, hapū, boating clubs, tourist operators, councils, universities, marine research institutes and community groups. A large swathe of Bay of Islands tourist operators registered for the event. More than two dozen iwi, hapū and/or marae from across Northland and the Hauraki Gulf were also among those registered to attend. But major technical issues with getting into the online meeting meant that only about a third attended and the meeting began almost 15 minutes late. Conquer Caulerpa chair Verdon Kelliher said caulerpa had the potential to permanently alter life in Te Tai Tokerau. It now covered about 280 rugby fields around 20 Bay of Islands locations. The seaweed could mean no boating, no fishing and/or no diving which would in turn impact many other businesses. 'That's what makes it a very serious thing,' Kelliher said. Growing concern over future fight funding comes as the problem seaweed continues its march. In the last couple of weeks it's been confirmed at Little Barrier Island, with the Government considering a fifth anchoring ban there to add to more than 12,000 hectares of coastline shut to boat anchoring, most sorts of fishing and/or kaimoana gathering. National exotic caulerpa national advisory group Te Tai Tokerau representative Natasha Clarke-Nathan (Patukeha, Ngati Kuta) said the seaweed was now found in Northland, Auckland and Waikato. She said it was important all people, across New Zealand, were singing from the same hymn sheet when it came to caulerpa. The battle was about kotahitanga. 'We have to do things together,' Clarke-Nathan said. She said the issues facing the Bay of Islands were part of the bigger picture for the whole country. Ngati Kuta ki Te Rawhiti charitable trust trustee Glenys Papanui (Ngati Kuta) said the goal was to eradicate caulerpa. The battle was not just about Ipipiri, the Bay of Islands. 'It's about all of our coastline,' Papanui said.
