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Are NZ Surfers about to lose the famed Whanga Bar?
Environment Minister David Benson-Pope has given the Whangamata Marina Society the go ahead to construct and operate a marina at Whangamata.
In light of the further information provided by the Environment Court to the Minister, Mr Benson-Pope decided that he was able to grant the consents subject to stringent conditions.
Mr Benson-Pope said he considered the conditions imposed would provide greater certainty that the positive benefits from the marina would occur and that negative effects would be monitored.
New conditions imposed include:
* monitoring any long-term effects on the Whangamata sand bar.
* ceasing work if any archaeological remains are discovered until a contingency plan is in place.
* the removal of a slipway prior to the operation of the marina.
* the Department of Conservation be consulted on the management plan for the operation of the marina.
* the Department of Conservation be consulted on the ecological monitoring plan and to be involved in monitoring fish and shellfish at Moana Point.
* Greater involvement of the Department of Conservation in the enhancement of the salt marsh that will be used for placing fill from the development.
The marina proposal is contentious.
Many boaties support the development, and the Marina Society has spent 12 years and up to $1.3 million trying to get resource consent for its construction.
The Thames-Coromandel District Council is also understood to back it.
But iwi oppose the marina because of fears that traditional food-gathering areas will be lost.
Environmentalists were upset that the marina could help destroy a saltmarsh, and some surfers think the popular Whangamata bar will be affected.
Surfbreak Protection Society Concerns
The Surfbreak Protection Society wishes to thank Minister of Conservation Chris Carter for his work in seeking a balanced outcome in the Whangamata marine resources allocation debate.
Surfbreak Protection is extremely disappointed by the Minister for Environment, David Benson Pope’s decision to give the marina development conditional approval. His ruling puts an established surfbreak at great risk.
The Whangamata Bar surfbreak has never been assessed or quantified by local councils, the Environment Court, Department of Conservation or the Ministry for the Environment. One of the Coromandel’s most famous attractions and regional income generators stands officially unacknowledged and unprotected. All surfbreaks are within the foreshore and seabed of New Zealand. The Whangamata Bar, a world class surfbreak, is at risk because public authorities and the NZ legal system do not assess these breaks. Access is an issue. Safety is of deep concern.
This marina for 205 boat owners has been built on retrospective (local) law with disregard for the thousands that enjoy surfing the bar and using the adjacent beaches. In this drawn out dispute, the surfing community has been up against then Minister of Environment, Nick Smith pulling the Department of Conservation out of the proceedings in 1997 - contrary to the wishes of the experts in that Department. It also has been up against the local Council putting together a secret subdivision with the Marina Society before entering the Environment Court in 1999, blurring demarcation between the Resource Management Act and the Local Government Act. This includes selling of coastal land at a loss to the ratepayer. These land dealings have dictated the site of this marina and led to this decision of expediency. Money and a minority have prevailed.
We thank all those who have been involved in working to protect the Whangamata foreshore and seabed and encourage ongoing involvement in future coastal protection battles. At Whangamata, Surfbreak Protection will seek clarification from central and local government as to the process of monitoring the effects of the marina development on the natural environment, the necessary resource commitments, and to any remedial actions required consequent to this.
While some vested interests are not prepared to acknowledge it, public opinion on the use of our coastal resource is changing. We must stop further degradation and ongoing privatisation of our coastal environment.
Paul Shanks
President
Surfbreak Protection Society Inc.
www.surfbreak.org.nz
