Marine park leaves D’urville families facing uncertain future
Nearly 900 hectares of pristine forest and idyllic coastline have been added to the Kahurangi National Park in the northwest of the South Island.
Nelson MPand Environmental Minister Dr Nick Smith announced the additions to the park on Friday.
The five significant areas were originally left out because of their ownership status, mining permits over them, or being insufficiently investigated, he said.
‘‘The first of these areas have been progressively purchased from their private owners by the Government through the Nature Heritage Fund,’’ Smith said.
‘‘The last two areas were owned by the Government when the park investigation began but were not included because of potential mining issues. The mining permit on the Steatite Block was surrendered in 2014.’’
Smith kayaked down the idyllic Craig Aston’s family have lived D’urville Island for four generations. He is the latest representative in a long fishing legacy.
‘‘I’ve done 35 (years), my dad before me, his dad before him, then his dad was a part-time joker as well.’’
As well as a commercial fishing enterprise, the family provides holiday accommodation, a mail boat run as well as an on-demand barge service around the French Pass and D’urville Island area.
But, with the introduction of a recreational fishing park in the Marlborugh Sounds, Aston said Whanganui Inlet, also known as Westhaven Inlet, in western Golden Bay to mark the extension of the park.
Accompanying him was Department of Conservation’s northern South Island operations director Roy Grose, and NelsonMarlborough Conservation Board chairman Bob Dickinson.
Only their paddles betrayed the stillness of the hushed inlet. The silverbrown waters reflected the deep greens of the steeping virgin forest overhead and the rata towered over them tall like kings.
Across the inlet, a lone kotuku waited for the tide, balanced one foot and gazing seaward into the quiet bay.
The new addition to the park is a 204-hectare forest area by the Westhaven Inlet, Te Tai Tapu Marine Reserve, which was sold to the Crown in 2005 by its owner Murray Gavin.
Roy Grose said Gavin was a true ‘‘caretaker of the land’’ who bought it in 1987 to save the bush from being cleared.
He later carried out his own pest his family’s future was unclear.
As part of the plan, an estimated 139 tonnes of commercial catch each year would be discontinued within the park boundaries of the Marlborough Sounds.
The potential restriction of fishing areas around D’urville Island would hit the family hard and Aston was pondering the value of remaining there.
‘‘It’ll affect us quite massively – our main income comes from directly from fishing, without it I don’t know whether we can carry on here,’’ he said.
Aston said he and wife Chris had been buoyed by large support from the local community.
‘‘They don’t want us to go, and I don’t want to go either as I’ve lived control on possums and stoats for more than a decade.
‘‘The condition you see it in now, with the magnificent rata trees so wellpreserved, is is a result of his dedication,’’ Grose said. ‘‘He was the custodian of this land and a very innovative visionary to do all that of his own volition.’’
Kahurangi, which means "treasured possession", is a diverse terrain of untracked wilderness, ancient karst landscape and nikau dotted beaches.
Smith said it was the largest addition to the park since its creation in the 1990s.
The other four additions include the wilderness coastline of Big River, Harwood Block, West Burnett and a block in Cobb Valley.
Local iwi and the Governor-General approved the decision in June, after they were recommended for addition to the national park by the NelsonMarlborough Conservation Board and the New Zealand Conservation Authority.
Smith said there was not a park here all my life – I’d rather go out in a box when I’m finished.’’
Lindsay Elkington was part of another long-established family dynasty on D’urville Island. He shared Aston’s uncertainty.
‘‘We had no intentions of leaving but if this marine park goes ahead in its current form we’ll have no choice,’’ he said.
Elkington said that as the island’s tangata whenua the family had presented several large submissions opposing the marine park, concentrating on the impact on their extended whanau as much as their fishing operations.
‘‘One of the reasons we’ve come back to D’urville and started doing what we’re doing is to encourage our young kids to come home – anywhere in the world that had all the features of Kahurangi.
"With its wild coastlines, stunning estuaries, massive limestone escarpments, snowy mountains, tussock downs, huge river rapids, pure springs and deep caves. These are the most significant additions to the park since it was established 20 years ago and add to its special character."
Forest and Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell said they were pleased the five significant areas had been given the recognition they deserve.
‘‘Several of them were purchased by Nature Heritage Fund and in some cases have been sitting around for 20 odd-years, so although we are glad they are finally getting the protection they deserve it’s a shame its taken so long.’’
The five additions to Kahurangi National Park are:
204ha west of Pakawau on the southeast of Whanganui Inlet opposite the outlet to the Tasman Sea, an area renowned for being one of New Zealand’s most pristine coastal harbours.
330ha of wild coastal land at Big River, completing the protected status from the mountains to the sea surrounding Kahurangi Point.
68ha of a coastal area known as Harwood Block, south of Kahurangi Point, completing the full protection of the coastal area from Kohaihai to Kahurangi Point.
246ha of inland forest just west of Collingwood, known as West Burnett, surrounded by the Kahurangi National Park, with high-value virgin forest and regionally rare species.
49ha of highland bush adjacent to the Cobb Dam, surrounded by the Kahurangi National Park, known as the Steatite Block. and it’s working,’’ he said.
The economic impact has also been acknowledged by Nelsonbased fishing companies. FinestKind chief executive Donna Wells had a lifelong involvement with the fishing industry under the company she founded in 1999.
Wells was concerned that the establishment of a marine park would impact the livelihoods of many, including her own.
‘‘There is no way that this cannot impact on my business – I have three vessels in Nelson that I deal with and two in Marlborough – if this proposal goes through then that’s 50 per cent gone right there,’’ she said.
Wells believed a collaborative approach as opposed to a ‘‘them versus us’’ mentality was essential in reaching an agreeable solution.
Environment minister Nick Smith said the Government remained committed to the park and the broader reform of the Marine Reserves Act.
Thousands of submissions were received in relation to the proposal and Smith said the three agencies were reporting back on those submissions. He conceded there were a small number of fishers that would be affected.
‘‘Some have suggested they may change their businesses to be more suited to tourism – they can generate more wealth from taking an international tourist to fish than catching it for them and exporting it to their home market.’’