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Aotea-Great Barrier iwi has asked the Waitangi Tribunal claim to look at what they allege is mismanagement of efforts to control the invasive Caulerpa seaweed.
Project Aotea spokesperson Kelly Klink says the crown failed to work with the mandated iwi, Ngāti Rehua – Ngātiwai ki Aotea, to find a ecologically safe way to control the seaweed.
Instead the Ministry for Primary Industries intends to use a suction dredge to clear the affected part of the coast.
“What I call ground zero at Okupu (Blind Bay) and they’re just going to suction right through the middle and we’re like ‘why are you doing that when it’s just going to come back?’ We would rather see on the edges but we’d also rather to use natural control or whatever we decide as a whanau here and as a community,” Ms Klink says.
She says the seaweed is stopping islanders from fishing, which is an essential food source.
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