Sand movement

I am the former owner skipper of a commercial long lining vessel which operated out from the Patea coast for a period of 17 years.

Using a gps navigator in conjunction with a good depth sounder allowed me to not only detect the presence of fish, but also to find and identify the exposed rocky ground from the more sandy areas.

There was evidence of considerable sand disturbance and movement on the seabed in some places, and in one instance a bed of small scallops was exposed and was covered by the most dense concentration of blue cod that I have ever seen.

The point that I am making here is that I know there is a lot of sand moving around in the area and this is a natural and ongoing occurrence. T

herefore the sand mining process might not be as harmful as some might think.

If it were to be given a try in a much smaller area for a brief period, and then have the area and surrounding seabed closely monitored for a lengthy period of time, it would take a lot of the guess work out of this process.

Should the results be positive then a gradual extension could then proceed, and with the monitoring to continue.

I would like to see it made mandatory that all revenue gained from the mining were to be directly injected into our health system, and we would all gain from this.

It would be a special blessing for those people who suffer as they wait so long to have their operations done in our hospitals.

Ric Taylor

Patea