Listen Now: 
A Tauranga iwi leader says lessons learned from the Rena grounding helped with a rapid response to last week's oil spill in the harbour.
About 1500 lites of oil leaked into the water while a ship was being refueled at Mount Maunganui wharf.
Charlie Tawhiao from Ngai Te Rangi says a communications strategy agreed to after Rena did not work as planned, but hapu kaitiaki mobilised quickly to check beaches and start the clean-up, supported by the regional council and Maritime New Zealand.
Yesterday they met with the Mobil country manager Andrew McNaught, who acknowledged the mess the company had created.
"They also understood, because they heard it quite bluntly, the hurt this latest incident in the harbour has cause for the hapu, especially those living on the harbour, and that's pretty much all of us living intimately with the harbour, but hose whose beaches and kaimoana places were affected were most hurt and they let the company know," Mr Tawhiao says,
There is still oil in the wharf area and marina that needs to be cleaned up,
Copyright © 2015, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
RELATED NEWS
