October 16, 2014
More marina means more para
A far north kuia is appalled at a decision by independent commissioners to grant consents for a multimillion dollar expansion of the Opua marina.
Maiki Marks says before being allowed to expand, Far North Holdings Limited should have been made to clean up the damage to the environment caused by its existing marina.
That includes the complete destruction of customary fisheries.
She says her own claim, which was lodged almost 30 years ago, relates to the neighbouring Walls Bay, which includes a boatyard that is also set to expand.
"There's no monitoring. People wash down their boats on the reserve, the rains come down, like in the weekend and washes all the debri, all the para into Te Moana O Pikopiko O Whiti. The accumulative effects of that para with what is happening, as a result of the the marina being there and what goes from the roads into the sea, the breakdown of the sewerage system, all contribute to the pollution to the levels to the degradation of the mauri of the water," she says.
Maiki Marks says the environmental costs of the expansion outweigh its benefits to a few boaties.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MAIKI MARKS CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjMxNzc=
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