Mangrove may get chop

An application for consent to remove about 30 hectares of mangroves from Whangamata Harbour will be lodged this month.

If the application by Environment Waikato is successful, it will be the first large-scale legal clearance of mangroves on the Coromandel Peninsula and involve the first use of machines.

After more than 10 years of debate about mangroves in the harbour, the regional council decided last December to allow for clearance south of the line populated by mangroves in 1944.

Environmental manager David Speirs said the consent application had been prepared by staff in consultation with key community groups in Whangamata.

The area to be cleared is about half the estimated area of mangroves in the harbour. It was identified through a set of criteria, such as flooding, drainage and debris build-up, Mr Speirs said.

"The proposed work will be done for ecological reasons and for public access and recreational value reasons, as opposed to being done for people's views."

Work will be done in stages, starting with a 2ha area by the causeway.

The project was expected to take two to three years to implement, assuming everything went well, he said. A machine, which has been successfully used in Tauranga Harbour this year, will be used to dig the mangroves out and mulch them. The vegetation is then left to rot on land or be flushed out with the tide. Mangroves in areas where machinery can't be used will be removed by hand.

Work will start as soon as possible after the consent is granted, but will not be done during peak holiday periods or birds' nesting season.

Mr Speirs said it was difficult to nail down the costs of the project but mechanical removal was significantly cheaper than any other option.

Whangamata ratepayers have been paying a levy for mangrove management since July last year, when clearance was projected to cost about $300,000.

The council is applying to itself for the consent and the application will be heard by one or more independent commissioners.

It is expected to be publicly notified because of its significance.

Environmental groups, iwi, residents' groups and local and central government agencies have all been involved in the preparation of the application.

Environment Waikato Coromandel councillor Simon Friar said it had been a long, slow, frustrating process and the council's approach had been over-precautionary.

"But at least now we can get on with it and I am completely confident that at the end of the monitoring period, only benefits will have arisen." The clearance of 6ha in the Moana Estuary by the Whangamata Harbour Care Group over the last three to four years was showing what could be achieved, with less sediment and the return of wading birds, snails and fish, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News