News

Horseshoe Island Weed Blitz - Again

On Sunday 3rd July the Whangateau HarbourCare Group and several helpers from the local community, Forest and Bird, and DOC cleared wattles and a few small gorse plants from Horseshoe Island in the Whangateau Harbour. “Last year we missed our regular weeding and the wattles had got away again”, said Roger Grace of the Harbour Care group. “If we keep on to it annually we can simply pull the new wattle seedlings out of the sandy soil, but this time they had grown to three or four metres high and needed cutting off at the base and painting with Vigilant gel.”

We also removed a large patch of South African ice plant growing on the sandy spit at the west end of the island. We got 1.5 cubic metres of ice plant and took it to the green waste bin at the Lawries Road tip where the Auckland Council paid the tip fee. Last summer a pair of variable oystercatchers nested on this area, and the iceplant was encroaching on their breeding site.

Hopefully this year they will have a little more space.

Roger Grace, 8 July 2011

The Cockle Mystery

The Cockle Mystery is now available for sale. This is the great little book written by Whangateau resident Ella Gerard while a Year 11 student at Mahurangi College. It graphically describes the cockle die-off and its consequences and is very entertaining. Copies are available for $20.00 by contacting Richard Gerard or Warkworth Print - 50% of all sales go the the HarbourCare Group.

Plan Change 63 - Point Wells/Omaha Sustainable Management Plan

Our Committee has appealed to the Environment Court against the decision to allow subdivision in the Omaha Flats area without any environmental "trade-off". As Rodney District Council approved the Plan and the ARC opposed it we will be interested to see which way the new Auckland Council will jump.
UPDATE: The HarbourCare group has reached a settlement through mediation with significant changes to the rules controlling subdivision on the Omaha Flats. The changes will be available on the R.D.C. website once released by the Auckland Council.

Green Ribbon Nomination

Whangateau Harbourcare was nominated for the Green Ribbon award. Download the pdf (Green Ribbon) to read more. Whangateau HarbourCare didn't win but it was an honour to be considered.

Green Ribbon Awards Essay

Download a pdf, composed by Margaret Simpson, of the awards ceremony (1.4MB) Green Awards

Foreshore Restoration Project Plan

Whangateau Harbourcare has developed a plan to restore a portion of the Whangateau harbour. To read more download the pdf  (0.5MB) Foreshore

Cockle Situation in the Harbour

Parasites and bacteria implicated in the mass cockle deaths in the Whangateau Harbour.  Closure of the shellfish beds is anticipated to allow them to recover.

A report from MAF Biosecurity has implicated coccidia and mycobacteria as the likely cause of the massive die-off which occurred this summer.  The role of heat and very low tides is not clear but may have made the cockles more susceptible to infection.

Coccidia are normally present in shellfish but in this case they have massively infected the gills. It is likely that the mycobacteria, which are not normally found in shellfish, have taken the opportunity to parasitise the cockles.  Researchers were working with frozen and preserved cockles which made their task more difficult and they have done a fantastic job in view of the fact that they did not receive the samples until April.

Neither of these organisms present a risk to humans but there would certainly be a risk to anyone eating dead or dying cockles which have started to decompose.

The greatest impact on the cockle population was on the larger sizes with a reduction in densities of between 80 and 84%.  This is a significant event as these cockles are the filters which keep the Harbour water clean and clear.

Meetings have been held between scientists, MAFBNZ, MAFish, RDC, ARC, Ngati Manuhiri and  representatives of local groups to determine how best to proceed.  At the latest meeting (Friday, 21st August) agreement was reached on the need to close the cockle fishery until recovery can be achieved.  This process will take about 3 months and it is hoped to have the fishery closed by Christmas.  It was agreed that the pipi beds should also be closed as they have been drastically reduced by over fishing.  A community group will be set up to decide when recovery is sufficient to allow a return to harvesting.

Shellfish Gathering Prohibited as of March 25th, 2010.

Funday photos

Roger Grace
For Whangateau HarbourCare Group.
10 February 2010.