Proposed changes anger berth holders
Proposed changes at Bluff port, which would see a wharf closed, is angering berth holders.
A letter to berth holders from South Port NZ infrastructure manager Frank O’Boyle says it reviewed its infrastructure over the past 18 months.
Part of the review focused on the finger piers and the west end of the town wharf, which accommodated several fishing vessels.
The review found the finger piers would be non-operational within the next two to five years, if maintained at their current state.
An economic assessment found the rental charge per berth needed to be $4000 per annum to make a wharf upgrade financially viable.
It also found the town wharf structure was at the end of its life and significant expenditure was required to keep the town wharf fishing berths operational.
The inspection of the west end of the town wharf found it was necessary to close it to the public.
This would mean limiting it to pedestrian access only. Relocating vessels should be considered, the letter says.
The preferred location for the town wharf vessels was the finger pier facility.
However, the letter says finger pier was at full capacity, with no room for town wharf fishing vessels.
This meant South Port would need to chose which vessel owners could berth.
The finger pier wharf would be made the designated commercial and fishing vessel facility, but non-commercial vessels would need to find alternative locations.
South Port would hold a meeting with berth users today at the South Port Administration building at 3pm.
Berth holder and Bluff resident Paul Pasco said the changes would affect not just him, but all of the Bluff community.
South Port chief executive Mark O’Connor said it was not a topic he was prepared to discuss through the media.
People needed to appreciate that South Port was a commercial operation, O’Connor said.
‘‘It’s a commercial process that needs to be worked through with some common sense and reason.’’
Pasco said the people of Bluff were upset.
He said one suggestion was that berth holders anchor their boats in protest in the harbour, so that South Port could not ship.
‘‘People are very unhappy with the way South Port is,’’ Pasco said.
South Port had not done their maintenance and now the onus was falling on berth holders, he said.
There were 76 total berths, 26 commercial boats and the rest would be pleasure, he said.
‘‘So they are going to need somewhere to go. What are they going to do, put them on the beach?’’
A meeting for berth holders and concerned members of the community was held on Saturday, where about 60 people attended, he said.
A few people were selected to speak on behalf of residents who were unhappy about the proposed changes and South Port’s ‘‘lack of maintenance when we pay a lot of money’’.
‘‘The whole general feel of the meeting was they’re very disappointed with what South Port is doing to the people of Southland,’’ he said.
People in the community were sad to see what was happening to Bluff, he said.
‘‘Cruise boats come by, and just go straight by ... If the cruise ships came in we would have a ten dollar shop, not a two dollar shop.’’
A lot of families used to come and fish. Now fishing was not allowed by the port, Pasco said. ‘‘It’s disappointing to see what’s happening, when we are all paying our bills,’’ he said.