Nugget Point May 2005

This article was originally published in the Otago Daily Times 13 May 2005

Nugget Point

Move designed to buy time . Nugget Point

Balclutha: The Clutha District Council yesterday voted 11-4 to oppose the proposed Nugget Point marine reserve but it seems the move will have no or little effect on the Department of Conservation's plans.

The council's decision is aimed at buying time for the group wanting to form a guardians management body for the South Otago coastline and to delay Doc's plans to lodge a formal application for the reserve later this month.

But mayor Juno Hayes later admitted the council had no teeth and could not stop Doc applying for the reserve - the vote was more about taking a stand for the community.

Last month, the council's regulatory services committee voted to neither support nor oppose the marine reserve but Cr Bryan Cadogan said councillors had had enough time to form a view. That vote was tied at 7-7 which forced the committee to keep the status quo.

Cr Margaret Collins said having a tied vote on the issue suggested the council had no opinion either way and yet it had shown support for the alternative to be explored further.

Cr Vanessa Robertson-Briggs said the council did not have enough information on either the marine reserve or its alternative to make a decision.

But Mr Hayes said by opposing it, the council was strengthening its position to try and stop Doc's progress.

Doc is set to lodge a formal application for the marine reserve later this month.

Doc needed to halt its plans for a Nugget Point reserve so an alternative proposal could be fully investigated, the council heard yesterday.

Catlins Boating Club president Lionel Mason and Nugget Point Recreational Fishing Club president Nelson Cross addressed a public forum to explain its plans for a South-East Coast Guardians Group to manage the southern coastline.

The Doc proposal was "hugely unpopular" but a guardians group had all the makings of providing a "sensible" approach to managing the coast's resources rather than simply locking up water for good, Mr Mason said.

A guardians group would comprise a publicly-elected board of 10-12 members who would devise a strategy that would be passed into law. A suggested boundary of protection could spread from Toko Mouth in the north to south of Cannibal Bay.

There were numerous benefits from a guardians approach to the area, Mr Mason said. It would not split the community and offered five separate protection tools, one of which was a marine reserve.

If Doc went ahead with its planned application and was unsuccessful, it would be hard for it to restore any faith and relationships with the local community, he said.

Mr Cross said he had spoken to many users of the coastline in recent weeks and there was overwhelming opposition to a marine reserve. But all agreed they shared a common goal of conserving, preserving and retaining resources.

Nugget Action Group president David Anderson and resident Daryl Jenkinson also spoke against the marine reserve proposal.

Mr Jenkinson said it was hard to believe Doc had no management plan to deal with the projected rise in visitor numbers to a marine reserve area.

Commercial paua diver Peter White said the marine reserve would have a serious economic effect on the livelihood who earn income from the Kaka Pont coast.

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