Dear supporter of my petition "Protect public access to Waiheke's coastline and safeguard democracy in NZ". To date about 900 people have signed this petition. I have just now sent a copy to the Waiheke Collective, a copy to Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation and the members of the Waiheke Island community board. I also sent a letter to the editor of Gulf News and the Waiheke Weekender.

Please note that the good news is that in July the Waiheke Collective Marine Project placed a one page advertisement in the Gulf News where they made it clear that the September conference organisers have no predetermined agenda. This means that this petition should be received positively as information that discourages adoption of Ahu Moana and so will enable the participants to focus on other marine conservation options that will have greater community support.

Also note that on 27 August an article on the Collective’s project in the Waiheke Weekender stated in relation to Ahu Moana; “The Sea Change report proposes a 100 m-wide area in the sea all along the Hauraki Gulf shorelines”. In fact, this claim is incorrect and misleading as it minimises the physical impact of the Ahu Moana zone. What the Sea Change report does say is “Ahu Moana are localised near-shore co-management areas along the length of the Hauraki Gulf and its islands, that will extend from mean high water springs (the high tide mark) generally out 1km.”  Page 48, Sea Change Hauraki Gulf Marine Spatial Plan. April 2017.

I would like to thank you all for your support. I am keeping the petition alive so please keep forwarding it to friends and people like yourself who value science and democracy.

Kind regards

John Douglas