Support urged for company left ‘stuck on a beach’
A rock lobster lobby group has waded into the wrangle between environment and industry as a crayfishing company remains ‘stuck on a beach’ since the Kaiko¯ ura earthquake.
Burkhart Fisheries has been unable to get its main boat in the water since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in 2016 lifted the seabed up to 3 metres in parts at Ward Beach, in south Marlborough.
The crayfishing company’s application to form a ‘paper road’ to a new launch site further up the coast was declined last year, and now the Environment Court has banned the company from dragging its boats along the beach to the launch site using bulldozers.
New Zealand Rock Lobster Industry Council chief executive Mark Edwards said the Government had helped many companies get back on their feet post-quake, but left Burkhart Fisheries in the lurch.
‘‘Burkhart Fisheries has not had access to the place they have fished for the previous 40 years,’’ Edwards said.
‘‘The company has expended a lot of resources, tried all available legal avenues, and provided all sorts of information to try to resolve this. I would like to see the Government help get a resolution to this, to find a way for them to launch.’’
Burkhart Fisheries was a ‘‘big employer’’ in Ward, Edwards said.
‘‘The financial losses would be significant.’’
Forest and Bird called for the Marlborough District Council to step in when the company started using bulldozers on the beach in December, saying it risked harm to threatened bird species nesting on the beach.
The council filed for an injunction order with the Environment Court, where Judge Jon Jackson issued the injunction under the Resource Management Act (RMA), banning the company from using heavy machinery on the beach.
The company was told the injunction could be amended if the council approved an ecological
Adcock said she was not concerned at all about the earthquake risk.
‘‘I feel OK,’’ she said. An earthquake prone building is a building likely to collapse causing injury, death or damage to other property during or following a moderate earthquake, according to Section 133 of the Building Act 2004.
Parish priest Father John Pearce said parishioners felt safe when they were there altogether.
‘‘There is a whole sense of solidarity in numbers,’’ he said.
At the beginning of mass, the priests were making announcements about the building management plan, which it did in February, but Environment Court Judge John Hassan would not amend the order.
Burkhart Fisheries managing director Dennis Burkhart said in a statement Hassan’s decision was ‘‘frustrating’’ but driving on the beach was ‘‘only ever a temporary solution’’.
‘‘We are now approaching a year-and-a-half since the quake and one of our boats has been being earthquake prone after the safety notice went up but decided to stop mentioning it about two months ago as the constant reminder was ‘‘getting at people’’, Pearce said.
‘‘If we start doing the announcements at the beginning of the mass saying this church is earthquake prone ... that’s getting at people more. The repeating of the message especially [affects] the ones who moved up from Christchurch,’’ he said.
‘‘If it’s driving people away [the message] it’s not helping.’’
He said if an earthquake happened during mass everyone would know how to respond, and if totally unable to use Ward Beach, while the others are operating with higher risk because of the uplift,’’ Burkhart said.
‘‘The longer this goes on, the more risk it poses to the 30 jobs we are trying to retain in our community.’’
Edwards said the RMA was getting in the way of economic earthquake recovery.
‘‘Of course we need to have provisions in place that protect the they didn’t know they would work it out from following what others did.
‘‘If an incident happened, any visitors from New Zealand will know what to do... People who come from outside New Zealand, they will just follow what the others are doing,’’ Pearce said.
Pearce said while the constant reminder had been getting to people, the safety notice ‘‘hasn’t had any effect’’ on the number of parishioners coming to mass. In fact, he said numbers had been ‘‘going up’’ lately.
He said it was very ‘‘frustrating’’ not being able to get on with the strengthening work. environment. But the RMA is supposed to allow business and employment and economic activity to take place,’’ Edwards said.
‘‘There must be a way to find a resolution. I know the Burkharts have tried very hard to minimise their impacts on birds on the shoreline.’’
While the council was hamstrung by the RMA, Central Government had a responsibility to ‘‘have sympathy for this business’’ and help find a solution, Edwards said.
‘‘The Government has provided a lot of support in other areas, to help people through after the quakes, but here is one company that is still stuck on a beach.’’
Kaiko¯ ura MP Stuart Smith said he agreed with Edwards, and suggested to Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash that earthquake legislation be used to ‘‘find a solution’’ for the company.
‘‘Maybe there are reasons why that hasn’t happened yet, I don’t know,’’ Smith said.
‘‘But I’m very concerned about the situation because it’s a business
‘‘It’s been a long time... That’s why we haven’t repainted which people keep saying it needs a paint,’’ Pearce said.
‘‘We’re not going to spend money on that [paint] until we have had the assessment.’’
The Archdiocese of Wellington, which overseas churches in the top of the South Island, and the Marlborough District Council were unable to be reached for comment.
St Mary’s Church has a category one heritage listing which is defined by Heritage New Zealand as being a historic place of special or outstanding historical or cultural significance or value. that employs a lot of people in that area.’’
The easiest option for the Burkharts would be to strike a deal creating a road to the new launch site on a private property bordering the beach, but Smith understood negotiations had so far been unsuccessful, he said.
Forest and Bird lawyer Sally Gepp said the organisation had remained willing to ‘‘sit down and work out alternatives with Burkhart Fisheries, something we have communicated to them.
‘‘But their use of this really important beach as a road was a unilateral action, outside the law, that caused significant harm to nesting birds as well as damage to the beach itself,’’ Gepp said.
A Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment spokesman said the ministry would not comment on the latest decision.
The post-quake business support programme ended when the highway reopened in December, he said.
The Ministry for Primary Industries was approached for comment. Ski field seeks summer solace with mountainbike plans.
‘‘A chairlift is needed to uplift bikes and riders.’’