New Jobs a Step Closer with the Opotiki Harbour Development Gaining Resource Consents
The Opotiki District’s vision of becoming the base for a world class aquaculture industry took an important step forward at the end of July 2009.
Independent Hearing Commissioners appointed by the Minister of Conservation, Environment Bay of Plenty and Opotiki District Council have granted a series of Coastal Permits and Land Use Consents to allow the development of the Opotiki Harbour entrance to provide safe access for vessels under most tide and weather conditions. The Commission also recommended that the Minister of Conservation grants Coastal Permits covering the construction and use of river training walls and reclamation of 1.9 hectares of foreshore and seabed.
The Commission’s findings noted that while the works involved significant actual and potential adverse effects on the coastal environment, the design of the proposal and the consent conditions ensured that a “precautionary approach” was taken which would avoid, remedy or mitigate those effects.
Actual and potential positive effects outweighed the negative impacts and included economic, social and cultural benefits for the Opotiki community and wider Bay of Plenty region, enhanced public access to and from the harbour and improved navigation and safety.
The consents granted and/or recommended to the Minister of Conservation allow for:
- The removal of up to 741,000 cu.m of material from the foreshore and seabed to create a new harbour entrance through the sandspit to the east of the existing entrance;
- The construction of two parallel training walls approximately 500m long and 120m apart, plus associated scour protection works;
- The construction of a bank-reinforcement structure from sand-filled geotextile bags;
- The depositing of more than 50,000 cu.m of material (including dredgings and rock) in the coastal marine area;
- Ongoing maintenance dredging of up to 50,000 cu.m a year;
- Earthworks and land disturbance associated with the construction of access roads, construction compounds, and dewatering and disposal of dredged material.
Of the adverse effects considered by the Commission, the destruction of an “important and productive” habitat for the acutely threatened NZ Dotterel was of most concern. Based on evidence presented from the Department of Conservation and others, the Commission concluded that the Dotterel were likely to relocate to a suitable new habitat to be created to the east of the proposed harbour entrance structure. Mitigation measures built into the proposal and the resource consents include: fencing to protect nesting birds; public education to keep people, vehicles and dogs away from the area during the breeding season; and a requirement that no works commence until after the breeding season.
Opotiki’s Mayor, John Forbes, says the granting of the harbour development consents is a “major milestone” for the District.
“The Draft Bay of Plenty Aquaculture Strategy identifies Opotiki as central to the region’s goal of developing an aquaculture industry with export sales of $250 million by 2025,” Mr Forbes says. “Local Iwi Whakatohea is the majority-owner of a planned 3,800 ha mussel farm offshore from Opotiki and the potential for further aquaculture development is huge. For Opotiki to harness the economic benefits of those developments, we must have a harbour which is accessible to larger vessels under most conditions and the development of the harbour entrance is therefore vital to our future wellbeing.”
“There is much still to be done to bring these developments to fruition, but the granting of resource consents for the harbour development is a hugely important first step,” Mr Forbes concludes.
Download the full transcript of the Commission's finding. (PDF)
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