Locals resort to picking up debris from ruined launch
Locals are having to pick up debris washing up on a beach by hand after a luxury launch sank and then was taken to a popular Coromandel holiday spot to be broken up.
Nearly two weeks ago, a 15-metre motor launch struck rocks and sunk off Motukorure Island in Mercury Bay.
The vessel sank fairly quickly with 1300 litres of diesel on board, Waikato Regional Council said in an earlier statement.
Last week, a private salvage company attempted to re-float the boat and take it to the marina in Whitianga.
“The damage to the boat was quite significant but it only became fully apparent when they got the boat up to the surface again, started towing it and found that it was taking on so much water that they did not have the ability to get it to the marina,” Thames-coromandel District mayor Len Salt said.
“They were faced with very few choices.”
The circumstances led to the vessel being towed to Cooks Beach, where trucks and diggers could get to it in order for it to be dismantled.
Thames-coromandel District Council said in a post that this solution meant the diesel was “safely pumped out, instead of spilling into a sensitive marine environment”.
However, many are not impressed with the situation and have said fibreglass, glass and fixings have been left on the shore while oil has been seen going out to sea.
“They’ve (the salvage company) obviously left some debris on the beach and my understanding is that they’ve been back a number of times to clean up,” said Salt.
“But in the meantime locals have got in and said ‘look, you know, we’re not happy about this, we’re going to get in and do our own clean-up’.”
“That’s fairly typical of the way folks work in the Coromandel.”
In its post on Facebook, the council thanked locals for picking up rubbish from the beach. Waikato Regional Council said last week that it was keeping in close contact with the salvage company to ensure the risk to the environment was managed.
Salt wondered if there might have been a more efficient way to dismantle the boat.
“There might have been a better way to do it but I don’t have enough information to make that call,” the mayor said.
He said he had not heard anything about the costs being covered by ratepayers, and thought these would be covered by the boat owner’s insurance.
The skipper and his passenger were uninjured in the incident earlier this month.
The council previously described the launch as “new”, but council onscene commander Cliff Gibson said it had determined the vessel was about 10 years old, but new to the owner.