Kia Ora Everyone,
Well its been another very busy year for the Guardians Of The Sounds.
Methyl Bromide
We had the ERMA reassessment , with associated meetings submissions etc. Their decision was that yes, release to atmosphere of MB is unacceptable and yes it needs to be recaptured, but it is unfair to expect industry to incur the costs of immediate upgrade of their facilities so they granted them a 10 year time frame to make the transition.
Another win by big business over environment. We should be used to that but what I find hard to accept in this case is them putting profits ahead of the health and safety of our community.
Methyl Bromide will be an ongoing issue, but we have some new Councilors in now who are not happy with the situation and are lobbying on our behalf. We hope to see some changes in the new Sounds Plan that will improve the situation.
Forestry
I took 20 odd Councilors and staff out recently to discuss forestry harvesting practices and their negative impacts in the Sounds and ways in which this area can be improved. It was a very positive meeting and I hope that changes to the Regional Policy Statement will result from it.
We know that very time an area is clear felled using conventional ground based methods we end up with up to 500 tonnes of sediment in those bays which devastates the wetlands, mudflats and benthic life. The hills are left permanently scarred with roads and tracks and skid sites with their associated mountain of slash waiting to come crashing down. The slash blocks gulleys and creeks and the erosion turns many water supplies yellow with clay and mud.
The alternative we are proposing is the overhead aerial flying fox system where the trees are cut, hoisted up to the wire and flown directly down onto a barge, no skid sites, no roading, no erosion, no marshaling area, and no barge landing site.
A local company has developed the equipment to make this all feasible.
Marinas and Moorings
We also had the big hearings over the extension of the Waikawa Marina (by four football fields out into the bay), and the proposed mooring management area.
We opposed the development of the two marinas , because of the negative impact that it would have on the river delta ecosystem and the impact that another 500 vessels would have on the Sounds resources that are already in a state of collapse.
We also opposed the management area insofar as they wanted to control the whole of the foreshore and seabed of Waikawa bay out to a line between Karaka Pt and the Snout.
This would have been privatization of Public Common. As a result of our lobbying the line was drawn across the inner bay on the inside of Wharetukura and Beeches Bay.
We also opposed the hiring of a mooring manager when we already pay for the harbor masters staff and saw this as an unnecessary level of bureaucracy.
We also lobbied to make sure that the management area if created would remain as a non profit making entity and not be allowed to become a business for profit (like the Marinas have become).
This whole issue was very demanding on our time and recourses, we worked in with Te Atiawa trust on this , helped organize the Hikoi from Picton Foreshore out to Waikawa Marina and attended the separate hearings.
Te atiawa must be congratulated for the way in which they conducted the hearings. They based it on Rangimariere, Peaceful resistance, the kopapa of Te whiti o rongomai a prophet from Parihaka known as the man of Peace.
The impact was profound, and it was a real honor to be part of the event.
The history, written, oral and photographic record was wonderful and shows the depth of culture , spiritual significance and ties to the land and sea of Waikawa bay that Te Atiawa have and which we as Pakeha landowners are also starting to develop and the sense of responsibility that goes with it in regard to the natural environment and the way in which it also impacts on our culture collectively.
The decision has just come out( 3 months late ). The marina extension has been declined, the mooring management area has been approved (only out to cooks ridge) and it is to be a non profit making regime. All in all a good result.
A huge thankyou to Te Atiawa for the resources that they committed to the fight and to the Guardians members and Waikawa Ratepayers also who helped oppose the development .
This decision is huge, and hopefully marks a change in the incredibly arrogant attitude that developers have for the Sounds environment and for our culture and heritage values.
Aquaculture
The next big issue is the Government Aquaculture Amendment Bill no 3. which has the potential to turn the Queen Charlotte into one great big aquaculture growing area which with a worst case scenario could see hundreds of Salmon farms installed by foreign owned multinational companies.
This is what has happened in Norway, Canada, Chile with all of their associated pollution and disease. As one area becomes horribly polluted they move to a fresh country. The New Zealand Government has just opened the door and invited them here. The Minister of Fisheries is in Norway right now talking to fish farmers!
Takutai and myself went over to address the Select Committee on behalf of the Guardians and where shocked at the attitude of the Ministers involved. This bill will go through unchallenged either before or right after the elections.
The Marlborough District Council Sounds plan has in the main designated Queen Charlotte Sound out of bounds to aquaculture but unfortunately the Aquaculture bill has been designed to bypass the District Council and the RMA process and allows aquaculture interests to apply directly to the new EPA, ( a Committee of people selected by government ). We will be allowed a representative, probably a District Councilor, but cannot refer to history culture or Lore. These hearings are based on points of Law only with no right of appeal.
Industry can now use the private plan change process to apply for any bay they desire in the Marlborough Sounds.
If the applications are heard by Marlborough District Council and declined the Bill allows the new Minister of Aquaculture the right to override their decision.
The Bill also allows for Maitaitai to be used as AMA areas and for the change of use from one species to another, so if fish farming becomes uneconomic they are able to change to mussels , scallops or seaweed , so these will be licenses in virtual perpetuity. in other words we are facing the Privatization of the Sounds seabed.
This is going to be a huge battle. The multinational fishfarmers are among the wealthiest companies in the world. The Government want it and have given it the National importance tag. Iwi have been promised 20% of each new farm and they have neutralized the power of the people by creating the EPA and taking the RMA out of the frame.
The only way that we can see us being able to prevent this wholesale privatization from taking place is to get the Marlborough District Council to apply for a Local Government Bill to have the Marlborough Sounds designated as a Maritime National Park, (not one big marine reserve). It would still allow for sustainable fishing and diving (not dredging) like the great Barrier reef, and it would be divided up into paddocks and managed by a Integrated Management structure and not by a committee in Wellington.
Closing comments
So there you have it, last year was very busy with lots of challenges to the Sounds environment and our culture, one thing is for sure if we don’t fight for it we will lose it.
The next 12 months will be our biggest challenge yet, and I hope we are up to the task, but it all costs and our coffers are bare and that is one way in which you can help the cause. When the subscriptions come around please dig deep and make a donation.
Believe me this time if we don’t fight, the Sounds as we know it will be lost, and the culture of recreation , customary access and tourism will be lost .
Arohanui,
Pete & Takutai
