COASTAL CONSERVATION, ARE YOU DOING YOUR BIT?

Every so often when a low tide takes place on the weekend, I wander around the foreshore under and beside our home in Mangonui and have a clean up of rubbish and other stuff left by the low tide. It is quite satisfying and is sort of like the occasional lawn mowing for people with normal grassed sections.

I can usually guarantee to fill a couple of shopping bags with bits of pipe, clothing, tyres, general rubbish and mostly glass. It is truly amazing how many bottles and glass shards are just dumped into the harbour to find their way onto the foreshore. A fair bit of this comes from fishing boats tied up at the wharf, which is disappointing as these are the very folk who make their living from the marine environment and you’d think that of all people they would show a bit more sense.

Kids play in this area at low tide so keeping the glass out of it has an immediate payback. Tourists often gather to watch the scene as they eat their fish and chips and in too many cases nonchalantly toss the wrappings straight into the scene that they are admiring.

The good news is that slowly the rubbish load is declining and there is definite evidence that mussels are increasing along the foreshore. In decades gone by sewerage effluent was simply discharged into the harbour by all residents of lower Mangonui, but thankfully the Doubtless Bay sewerage system eliminated this appalling practice.

We should all be pleased that slowly our coastal waters are cleaning up and the main problem now, other than over fishing, is completing the sewerage systems that have been oh, so slowly implemented in places like Russell.

The Russell sewerage scheme was first started back about the time I began my career as an engineer in the Far North. Sadly, in the time it has taken for me to have a complete career, and start other businesses, the council still haven’t got the Russell system completely functioning and who knows what our exposure is as ratepayers to various environmental claims by oyster farmers and others still upset by the ongoing pollution of the Bay of Islands from various sources.

Real practical everyday solutions to improving our coastal water quality will have long term positive payback for all ratepayers and each one of us can help by taking a bit more responsibility with what we chuck out.