Whitebaiters

I see John Robinson in letters dated August 15 and 29 quoting this law, that bylaw and making comments on iwi, KCDC, whitebaiters, DoC and GWRC regarding access to the Waikanae River (pictured ) by vehicles.

I’ll give him a wee bit of history around this, but for a start, I’ll just say that any law or bylaw that comes into being without consultation of all recreational users instead of a small group of barrow pushers does not mean that the law is a good one, and may even itself be illegal.

Historically speaking, access for whitebaiters has been in place for well over 50 years, but 15 years ago a developer built houses close to the estuary (probably too close to the estuary) and created a fuss with some whitebaiters about vehicles accessing the river.

DoC, KCDC and the police became involved and without a doubt things became very heated which probably gave rise to the threat of violence alleged by DoC.

Anyway, one of the whitebaiters was Koro Don Te Maipi and he suggested the parties meet at the Waikanae Marae, which duly happened.

The river, its Whakapapa and guardianship was given to the parties by Koro Don and duly recognised by the parties and it was agreed the status quo would remain in place. More recently, a system of permits JUST for the whitebait season was introduced by KCDC and has worked very well up and to the present.

But with no discussion, consultation or notice, some people who believe they have sole rights to the area for their own interests are agitating for change.

A DoC report by Gary Stephenson suggests that vehicle damage to the intertidal biota during daylight hours is minimal to nonexistent. I don’t know about Mr Robinson but Mr Stephenson is recognised and accepted by DoC as an expert.

Vehicles are driven responsibly and whitebaiters will be happy to discuss a code of conduct around that and may even also assist the parties in monitoring it.

For those of us who love what we do and our river, and who observe things a bit more, we can tell Mr Robinson right now that Tangaroa rules the whole area and often sends his tide right over the sandspit and even up into the dunes, and if birds do not choose carefully they will indeed become rare, and we don’t even want to go near global warming.

Mr Robinson needs to understand an important point, that whitebaiters are not prepared to be scapegoats, we wish to undertake meaningful and rational discussion with all parties regarding the history and the future because we love what we do, where we do it and we want that to be the case for our kids, grandkids and future generations.

I just wish to finish with a wonderful proverb that all parties would do well to consider: “Ko au te Awa, Ko te Awa ko au.” I am the river, the river is me.

[abridged]

JIM SIMONS Waikanae Beach