Want to keep receiving this newsletter? Please subscribe below

Working bee season is underway for the 11 Estuary Care groups that are helping to restore the mauri (vital essence) of Tauranga Harbour and its estuaries.

Their voluntary work involves planting, rubbish collection, pest control and mangrove management to improve water quality, wildlife habitat and open water access.

The groups have a number of community working bee dates coming up. To find out how you can get involved, contact Land Management Officer Katrina Browne phone 0800 884 881 ext 8357, or visit www.boprc.govt.nz/estuarycare

Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Tauranga City Council staff worked together last month to complete stormwater pollution prevention audits of business premises in Tauranga’s central business district (CBD). The audits were carried out as part of a wider industrial pollution prevention programme for Bay of Plenty.

The aim of the stormwater audits was to identify and address potential sources of contaminant discharges into local stormwater networks, to prevent harbour pollution. 

Audit checks of 193 CBD businesses were completed.  As a result, 108 businesses were asked to make changes to their premises or systems, to reduce potential contaminant discharges to soil or sewer and stormwater networks.  

The main issues identified were the need for improved maintenance or installation of grease traps, drain guards, waste oil storage or vehicle wash down facilities. Twenty-seven restaurants were required to install grease traps.

Most organisations that were asked to make changes were happy to cooperate and make efforts to minimise possible discharges to the stormwater network. Find out how your workplace can help keep the harbour healthy at www.boprc.govt.nz/taurangaharbourcare#work  

Following the discovery of a Mediterranean fanworm (Sabella spallanzanii) in Tauranga Harbour in 2013, a seventh round of incursion response surveillance has now been completed.

The surveillance involved underwater checks for unwanted marine pests on all walkway pontoons and boat hulls at both Bridge Marina and Sulphur Point Marina. The dive team were pleased to find no Mediterranean fanworms on boat hulls, however a single fanworm was found and removed from a walkway pontoon in Bridge Marina. Two clubbed tunicate sea squirts (Styela clava) were also found and removed from walkway pontoons during the checks at Bridge Marina and another two were found at Sulphur Point Marina.

Because of their aggressive growth habits, marine pests can interfere with fisheries and create problems for boat owners and marine-based businesses.

As part of Regional Council’s proactive marine pest surveillance programme, post-summer checks of all swing moorings and moored boats in Tauranga Harbour are currently underway. This includes underwater searches at Ōmokoroa, Tūhua (Mayor Island) and around wharf piles near Tauranga’s central business district.

Find out more at www.boprc.govt.nz/marinepests

A competition that encourages local young people to share their concerns and ideas for keeping local land, water and wildlife healthy is now open. The Enspire youth video challenge is a joint project by Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Tauranga City Council and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

The 2016 challenge opened on 1 February and there are some great prizes up for grabs.  All 12 – 24 year olds living in Tauranga City or Western Bay are encouraged to give it a go. Entries close April 1st. Give the Facebook page a ‘like’ at www.facebook.com/EnspireBOP to see the latest videos as they come in. For more information, visit www.tauranga.govt.nz/enspire

The beginning of summer brought an abundance of sea lettuce with it and Regional Council received multiple reports of green tides on local beaches.

Based on previous monitoring, the predicted El Nino weather pattern was expected to keep our sea lettuce clean-up crew extra busy this summer but instead, unexpectedly warm water temperatures have curbed sea lettuce growth since Christmas.

So far this season 496 tonnes of sea lettuce has been cleared from Tauranga Harbour beaches; 294 tonnes came from Western Bay beaches and another 202 tonnes from Tauranga City beaches.

So far this year’s bloom has been small in comparison to the last El Nino event in 2009/10, when more than 2000 tonnes of sea lettuce was cleared.

Find out about sea lettuce at www.boprc.govt.nz/sealettuce

Reports that analyse 2011 mapping information for mangrove and seagrass cover in Tauranga Harbour are now available at www.boprc.govt.nz/taurangaharbourresearch.

Key trends shown in the reports are that:

• In 2011, 3.7 percent of the 21,800ha Tauranga Harbour was covered in mangroves, compared to 2.8 percent in 2003 (an increase of 188 hectares).
• Seagrass coverage area in Tauranga Harbour has declined between 1996 and 2011, with an overall loss of 192 hectares.
• Most seagrass loss was from the northern harbour with a small increase in the southern harbour. Loss rates during the monitoring period were much lower than has been mapped in previous periods.

Mangrove and seagrass cover are mapped every five years as part of Regional Council’s ongoing environmental monitoring programme. A report on 2016 mapping information is expected to be completed in 2017.

Find out more about mangroves and seagrass at www.boprc.govt.nz/taurangaharbourissues  

Mangrove canopy cover (hectares) in Tauranga Harbour from 1943 to 2011.

Extent of seagrass cover (hectares) in the northern and southern Tauranga Harbour in 1959, 1996 and 2011.

Western Bay of Plenty District Councillors approved the construction of a wastewater scheme for the Te Puna West community at an Operations Committee meeting on 3 March.

The reticulation scheme was proposed as an option to address water quality concerns in the area, and assist landowners in meeting their 2011 On-Site Effluent Treatment Plan obligations.

The scheme approval comes after consultation with the community over the past eight years, and commitment through 2015-25 Long Term Plan processes by Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Western Bay Council to assist affected property owners with scheme funding.    

The scheme will involve installation of a grinder pump for each individual property, and connecting infrastructure. It will enable sewage to be pumped to the Ōmokoroa transfer pipeline and processed at Tauranga City Council’s Chapel Street treatment station.

Construction is expected to commence in September 2016, with an anticipated completion date of January 2017. More details are available at www.westernbay.govt.nz/te-puna-wastewater