Work begins on sea wall, bill later Exotic pests to get special focus
Construction has begun on a sea wall to save a top tourism spot hit by severe erosion but no-one has agreed on who will pay for it.
Storms and king tides have eroded about 18 metres of coastline in front of the Punakaiki Beach Camp, between Greymouth and Westport on the West Coast.
An existing rock wall is being extended by 160m by the West Coast Regional Council, but no-one knows how the work will be funded.
The council had asked residents along the Punakaiki coastline to pay for the $550,000 extension.
A vote came back with 14 against and 10 for the project.
Camp manager Craig Findlay said the regional council had revised the figure to $350,000 and would go back to a public vote.
Work on the sea wall began on Monday though, with council contractors carting rocks into the area. ‘‘We really have to proceed. ‘‘There is no point in waiting for the situation to get so bad we don’t have a camp ground to save,’’ Findlay said.
‘‘If we wait for the next round of consultation and reports, the camp will close and she’ll be all over.’’
He was glad the council was taking the risk to proceed before the costs were apportioned.
‘‘I can finally get some sleep without worrying about a pounding storm eating away any more of the camp.’’
King tides took out 11m in March and April, and since then another 6 or 7 metres had been lost, he said.
After a public plea for help and funding from the Buller District Council, more than 100 volunteers arrived to sandbag the camp in April.
It bought the camp some time, but was only a short-term fix. ‘‘The sea has cut away quite a lot. ‘‘Our wetland area that deals with our sewage is in imminent danger.
‘‘We were only one storm away from closing,’’ he said.
He would meet the Buller District Council, which owns the land, to decide on how much it would pay towards the extension.
‘‘If the camping ground and the council take the lion’s share, it will be significantly easier to get across the line with the residents of the rating district,’’ he said.
Regional council chief executive Michael Meehan said more consultation would held on the ‘‘fair apportionment’’ of the cost of the wall’s extension and a report would be submitted to the August council meeting. The Government wants every Kiwi to play a part in repelling exotic pests and diseases from the country’s borders.
It is using high profile ‘‘champions’’ such as Hawke’s Bay farmer and former Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills and ‘‘bug man’’ Ruud Kleinpaste to spread the message about biosecurity.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy is seeking public feedback on how to manage the threat of invasive species with the launch of the Biosecurity 2025 discussion document.
It outlines the magnitude of the challenge with an explosion in visitors, containers and parcels arriving in New Zealand.
Between 2003 and 2014, air passengers rose 47 per cent, sea containers 37 per cent and parcels 216 per cent. In 2015, 200,000 cruise passengers visited.
The cost of pests such as possums, rabbits and wallabies to the primary sector is estimated at $1 billion a year.
‘‘The time is right to identify the changes and improvements that will be needed to maintain a resilient biosecurity system over the next 10 years,’’ Guy said.
Federated Farmers spokesman Guy Wigley said for the sake of the economy, biosecurity was vital.
‘‘We can take comfort from the amount of money which is being invested, which has been beefed up to $223 million. But you have to be smart as well as throw money at the problem,’’ he said.
Green Party spokeswoman for Primary Industries Eugenie Sage warned the strategy underplayed the role of climate change.
‘‘A comprehensive 2015 MPI report detailed the major risks to agriculture, horticulture and forestry from climate change including from ‘sleeper’ plant and animal species that are already present in New Zealand and currently innocuous, but whose populations and extent may increase with warming temperatures to become significant pests,’’ she said.
Federated Farmers chief executive Graham Smith said the Government still needed to drive the strategy.
‘‘They can’t do it all but they should lead and help fund it. But it’s good they are showing foresight,’’ he said.
Sage said the strategy was too focused on biosecurity pests which affect the primary sector, with too little attention on indigenous plants and wildlife.
‘‘This results in the cash-strapped Department of Conservation, rather than MPI, having to be the major funder for, and lead eradication programmes for new pests such as the great white butterfly which affect native plants as well as horticultural crops.’’
The Forest Owners Association suggested more resources would have to be put into education and boosting MPI’s response to alerts.
The discussion document ‘‘Protecting to grow New Zealand’’ has five key areas:
Every New Zealander and every New Zealand business becomes part of the biosecurity team.
Making the best use of innovation, science and technology.
Information in real time to help with risk management. Effective leadership and governance. A capable workforce and world-class infrastructure.
Submissions on the document close on September 9.