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Sand theft, eco-terrorism and illegal breaches – the sandmining storm continues

 

 

thumbnail Te Arai aug 2021 julia wade-688KEN RAYWARD

To save our magnificent Mangawhai to Pakiri beaches from destruction caused by commercial sand miners, our communities will need to overcome illegal mining practices, contempt and deception, incompetence, negligence and council apathy. A very challenging mix!

The eroded state of our beaches and sea bed, the arrogant disregard by McCallum Brothers and Kaipara Limited in complying with Resource Consent rules and Auckland Council seemingly asleep at the wheel while on and off-water breaches continue to occur, has forced legal actions to be initiated, led by the Friends of Pakiri and supported by Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society and Te Whanau O Pakiri.

 

Extensive mining breaches
Breaches were exposed and extensively discussed at the recent commissioners hearing in May, to assess a new Far Shore mining consent application by Kaipara Limited, for a further 20 years.

These breaches amount to offences under Section 12[1] of the Resource Management Act, by undertaking sand mining which disturbs and is likely to have an adverse effect on the foreshore or sea bed, and when not expressly allowed by a resource consent.

Providing expert witness testimony at the commissioners hearing, respected coastal scientist Dr Shaw Mead concluded ‘the duration, number and consistency of consent breaches for the off-shore dredging shows a lack of commitment to the consent conditions and to the environmental health of the Mangawhai to Pakiri embayment in general’.

 

Issues acknowledged by miners
Additional hearing evidence via satellite monitoring, presented by Friends of Pakiri’s Damon Clapshaw, identified such regular on-water breaches and they numbered in the hundreds!

These include mining too close to shore, mining north of the boundary line in Mangawhai waters, taking sand without consent from NRC waters, and repetitive over mining of locations, which in one proven instance created a trench kilometres in length and five metres deep that threatens to undermine the entire sea bed eco-system.

This unlawful mining practice was eventually acknowledged by the miners at the hearing with mining in this area being immediately prohibited.

A comprehensive list of all the breaches has been provided to Auckland Council with a request from the Friends of Pakiri legal counsel for Council to take immediate enforcement action to secure future compliance with the terms of the existing Kaipara Limited consent and, given the continuance of breaches still occurring, applying necessary abatement notices.

 

Council should prosecute
Given the severity of the circumstances, Auckland Council should also immediately commence a prosecution of Kaipara Limited and McCallum Brothers for historic breaches of the consent as well as enjoining them to the appropriate standards of conduct in the future.

Both the Evidential Test and the Public Interest Test required for such prosecution have been met.

In order to escalate these actions, it has been requested that Auckland Council meet urgently with a team headed by Sir David Williams KNZM, QC, Friends of Pakiri, MHRS and Te Whanau O Pakiri to discuss the earliest commencement of the proposed enforcement actions.

Auckland Council however, has yet to respond to this legal representation made on the July 5.

 

Beaches wasting away
Of added concern is the extreme damage to our coastline following the recent storm activity, with the changes attracting the attention of New Zealand’s leading coastal ecologists who have expressed the belief that the storm damage is a result of the ongoing near-shore mining. With the sand volumes being so drastically reduced close to the shoreline, nature’s way of replacing volumes to restore the beach will not occur.

This is largely brought about by the mining operators taking sand when storm systems are happening, when beach sand is removed by heightened wave activity. Before the sand can be returned to rebuild the beach as nature has always done, the miners use their suction devices to capture this sand before it is settled, effectively cutting the lifeline to the beach.

Globally this practice is regarded as an act of eco-terrorism at its worst and is being permitted without intervention from Auckland Council. If it is allowed to continue, our beaches will waste away with no ability to return.

With mining occurring unconsented in our waters, we are dependent on Councils including the NRC, to use their lawful powers to act with urgency in recognising the overwhelming community opposition to the continuance of our beaches being destroyed by the coastal sand miners. These Council decisions will determine the future of our beaches, our local economies and coastal lifestyles! It is incomprehensible to think that Councils won’t make the correct decision to protect our community’s future.

n Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society is conducting a Give-A-Little initiative to fund the necessary legal costs involved in mounting a unified community opposition to the taking of our sand, ‘MANGAWHAI – SAND TAONGA’. To donate please visit givealittle.co.nz/cause/stop-sandmining-save-our-beaches-the

Under attack from sand mining, Te Arai beach needs a common sense approach from Auckland Council to help it recover from the damage done.

PHOTO/JULIA WADE


 
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