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Tangata whenua around Porirua Harbour are dismayed by suggestions the harbour may never again be a food basket.
Porirua City Council’s komiti Maori has received a report from officers about progress on cleaning up the harbour.
Shellfish in most of the harbour is not considered safe for eating because of decades of sedimentation and pollution by metals like lead, copper and zinc that were caught in the run-off from the region’s factories.
Harbour strategy co-ordinator Keith Calder says that makes it too difficult to restore the southern arm of the harbour back to its best, but it may be possible to make it a little healthier.
Deputy mayor Liz Kelly from Ngati Toa says she grew up eating four meals a day from the harbour, and the long term vision has to be bringing kaimoana back to the harbour so it can be a food basket once again.
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