Hi everyone,

Thank you for your support to date; and well done to Kelly Klink and the Society for the Protection of Aotea Community and Ecology (SPACE) team, for their ongoing efforts to protect Great Barrier Island from this toxic dredge sludge dump.

Please see below a media release issued on 14/3/2019:

In February 2019, the Environment Protection Authority gave Coastal Resources Ltd (CRL) permission to increase the amount of sediment it dumps from 50,000 cubic metres to 250,000 cubic metres annually for 35 years, just 25km of the east coast of Great Barrier Island.

Kelly Klink, of iwi Ngāti Rehua-Ngātiwai ki Aotea and the Society for the Protection of Aotea Community & Ecology have lodged appeals against the resource consent in the High Court.

Ngati Rehua Ngatiwai ki Aotea have a significant and an undeniable interest within the area - holding mana whenua and mana moana. Kelly states that ‘the proposed activity will have an irreversible impact on our moana’ and further ‘the harm will be irreparable to the wairua and mauri of Moana nui o Toi, adversely affecting the marine environment upon which our iwi have relied on mai rano’.

The approved consent is a 500% increase from the current consent quantity of dredged waste.

This will have significant negative impacts to the marine environment (for example, substrate smothering, heavy metal contamination, water quality degradation, effect of sounds on marine life such as whales, changes in marine life behavioural patterns and increased bio-security risks).

For more information on CRL application please refer: https://www.epa.govt.nz/public-consultations/decided/coastal-resources-limited

Please also sign and share this related petition: 

https://www.toko.org.nz/petitions/protect-aotea-from-marine-dumping

Thank you for your ongoing support. Further updates to follow. 

Best wishes,

Natalie