Foul mess dumped on marine park

Acompany has dumped 600 cubic metres of marine dredgings within the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, near Aotea/Great Barrier Island. Hauraki Gulf Forum co-chair and mana whenua representative Nicola MacDonald said members were “shocked and alarmed” to learn of the practice, which occurred in 2019 but was revealed only through an Official Information Act request.

“We don’t accept there is any justification for dumping this polluted material in the Gulf, and are absolutely alarmed to find out it was so close to Aotea,” MacDonald said. “We ... had been informed there was no dumping occurring within the park.”

Dumping is not allowed within the 1.2-million hectare Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, established in 2000 to protect its “natural and historic features”. It sits off the Auckland, Waikato and Coromandel Peninsula coastlines.

But there are two designated sites near the border, just outside the 12 nautical-mile zone and managed by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

Two companies hold permits to dispose of dredged materials — mostly sediment but also potentially containing heavy metals — at the sites. The permits require the companies to dump material within 100m of the centre of designated dump sites.

But the EPA has revealed this condition was breached five times since 2016 — all by Coastal Resources Ltd (CRL), whose consent is now held by Marina Consultants Ltd.

Its designated site, where it is allowed to dump 50,000cu m annually, sits just outside the Marine Park border, 25km east of Aotea.

Most of the breaches were outside the dump site by a few hundred metres, generally due to operator error. However, in February last year, 600cu m was dumped 3.4km from the dump site, closer towards Aotea, and inside the Marine Park boundary.

The EPA said this practice was provided for under the consent, which stated if material was disposed outside the authorised area, the EPA and Auckland Harbourmaster must be told within 24 hours. CRL notified the other parties, stating a technical issue caused the barge to open outside the right area.

CRL’s actions reinforced the forum’s position that marine dumping had no place in or near the Marine Park, MacDonald said. The forum had unanimously backed reform to outlaw marine dumping.

“We are calling on the Government to end this archaic practice.”

The Herald approached CRL multiple times for comment.

Minister for Oceans and Fisheries David Parker did not comment on whether he agreed with the call to ban the practice.