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Oyster farmers' 7-year battle with Watercare
Oyster farmers' 7-year battle with Watercare

Otago Daily Times

timea day ago

  • Politics
  • Otago Daily Times

Oyster farmers' 7-year battle with Watercare

By Victor Waters of RNZ A group of oyster farmers in the north of Auckland have reached breaking point over sewage overflow and want the government to intervene. The 10 marine farms have been in a seven-year battle with council-controlled organisation Watercare to stop sewage overflowing into the Mahurangi Harbour, which contaminates their oyster crops. Watercare provides water and wastewater services to the people of Auckland. At least one farmer is having to close their business, while many fear they will not survive the year, despite a pipe upgrade in September that will provide a short-term fix. At this stage, a long-term solution to the piping problem in Elizabeth St in Warkworth is not expected until 2028. Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Shane Jones said Watercare had "failed in their statutory duty of care to the Mahurangi oyster farmers". "They are solely responsible for the collapse of the infrastructure that has ruined the businesses of the Mahurangi oyster farmers. "I am astounded that this colossus will not step up to the plate and offer financial compensation to these marine farmers, who through no fault of their own are now penalised because of the failure of water care." Jones said he was looking into what levers the government had over Watercare. "There are many areas where the Auckland City Council wants the assistance of central government. The Auckland Council is in control of Watercare, and it seems extraordinary that we're expected as central government to deliver positive outcomes for the Auckland City Council, yet one of their organisations is driving local marine farmers to penury and offering no assistance, no relief whatsoever. "Watercare is a well-heeled organisation, they're not short of capital. What they're short of, though, is corporate responsibility and obviously, don't place any importance on the maintenance of a social licence to continue to operate. "Their organisation should be renamed Zero Care. But more importantly, this is a comment on their culture," the minister said. "They know and they've known for a long time about how weak the piping system is around Mahurangi. They've chosen to find every excuse in the world to delay fixing it up and now the oyster farmers are the casualties of this corporate delinquency." According to the farmers, the pipe network was originally scheduled to be upgraded in 2021 but never was. Watercare says it had expedited repairs to the wastewater overflow. Chief executive Jamie Sinclair told RNZ's Morning Report programme today it had to build a new wastewater treatment plant and pump station, but will make a short-term fix by September. "The first part is expediting what I'd call an interim solution, which is an over-pumping solution, which will be in place by the end of August, which will reduce those overflows by about 50 percent. "That's not the end solution, there will still be overflows. For the final outcome, we have reorganised our programme - the previous timeline was 2028 - we are now looking to have the outcome, an almost full reduction in overflows by the end of 2026. "So I know that that that's still time. There's still pressure today on on the oyster farmers and their businesses, but that is that is our priority is to fix this issue as quickly as possible." Sinclair said he felt for the affected farmers, their families and livelihoods, but would not comment on whether they could sue Watercare for lost business. "We've been investing for the last six years in this community. We'll be spending about $450 million. And it's really this final piece of the puzzle which will alleviate the overflows at that particular location." The issue of wastewater overflowing into the Mahurangi Harbour has been ongoing since 2018, when farmers first raised it with Watercare. Because oysters are filter feeders, they help remove the pollution in the harbour but by doing so, there was a high risk of food poisoning if they were eaten. Mahurangi Oysters farmer Jim Aitken said his own health working the oyster farms was also at risk. "Yeah, we're cleaning up their mess and we're not receiving any support for literally working in human waste. "This farm is the exception, but most of these farms, you are in knee-deep in mud, waist-deep in water, getting cut on sharp oysters, nails, all kinds of things, and now we have to worry about potentially getting quite serious infections from sewage. "When we get 9mm of rain - which is happening almost weekly - that should not be triggering a spill so easily, and consistently too. Like it's not a random thing, and we're told that the pipes that are connecting storm to wastewater have been disconnected, which should never have been connected in the first place. "But the increase has tripled, so far it's on track to quadruple the number of spills because we've already doubled what we did last year, what they did last year for spills, it's pretty astounding that there isn't even an increase in rainfall compared to last year." "We're wondering what's going on here, why has it suddenly increased so dramatically, is another question too, what we're trying to figure out," Aitken said. Lynette Dunn from Orata Marine Oysters said she had not been able to sell any locally grown produce since Christmas and had to approach Work and Income for financial support. She said MPs needed to take action to save the estimated $8 million oyster industry in Mahurangi Harbour. "They need to start hammering the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, telling him we need some action. The government's the only person, or the only identity that's going to take Watercare on." Dunn's family business has run for 30 years and has overcome many adversities, but she said this has been the toughest period. "Every day I've been crying, you know? I think to myself, like, I'm not going to cry today... Because it's not our fault, it's their fault - and they're not doing anything about it. "You wail awake at night time, thinking, 'okay, how much sewage is going to go into the harbour'". "We used to have, like, 5 or 10 mils of rain, and we'd be closed for fresh water, or 50 to 60 mils of rain, we'll get closed for 10 days for fresh water, but now we're getting closed 28 days constantly on 5 mils of rain. "In some instances, there's no rain and there's sewage spills, but this last one was 670 cubic metres of sewage pumped into the harbour on Thursday. You know, like, the water in the streets of Warkworth, running down their pipes are overflowing and sewage coming out," she said.

Pharmac considers extension to free vaccination programme
Pharmac considers extension to free vaccination programme

Otago Daily Times

time12-06-2025

  • Health
  • Otago Daily Times

Pharmac considers extension to free vaccination programme

By Victor Waters of RNZ Pharmac says it's exploring ways to extend a free meningoccocal B vaccine programme, with an estimated 100,000 eligible pre-schoolers still not protected. Meningitis prevention advocates have pressured health officials to continue the campaign, which is due to end on August 31. Pharmac pharmaceuticals director Geraldine MacGibbon said Pharmac funds the meningococcal B vaccine for all children under the age of one. "In March 2023, Pharmac funded a catch-up programme for children under the age of five to better protect young New Zealanders from meningococcal B. "We understand that people are keen to see the catch-up period extended and we are actively exploring options for this." "We will keep interested groups, including the Meningitis Foundation, informed about any updates," MacGibbon said. According to the Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand, meningococcal bacteria can cause meningococcal meningitis - inflammation of the meninges, the membrane lining of the brain and spinal cord - and/or septicaemia (blood poisoning). Foundation chair Gerard Rushton said the meningococcal B vaccination programme was initiated after a submission the foundation made to Parliament and an application to Pharmac. He said more than 400,000 doses were given out in the first 12 months of the campaign. "We're calling on Health New Zealand and the government to actually continue this programme, because we know it works. We know it will save lives. "We know it's going to take pressure off the already-stretched health system. "What we're saying is this campaign has been very successful and it's been proven that people want it, but there's still 100,000 of our tamariki that haven't been protected, so we're calling them to keep this programme going. "We're really concerned that this large sector of our community are going to miss out. The vaccination rates for our young are still far too low, but we need them to extend this programme, because we need to protect those 100,000 of our children who are still unvaccinated." A Health New Zealand spokesperson said it was are "responsible for the implementation of the programme". "Pharmac funds the meningococcal B catch-up programme and set the timeframe from 1 March 2023 to 31 August 2025." A Health New Zealand spokesperson said, as of 9 June 2025, 84 percent of eligible children under 15 months had at least one dose of the meningococcal B vaccine. "Whānau can access the meningococcal B vaccines from a range of places, including general practice, hauora Māori and Pacific providers, with many Wellchild Tamariki Ora Services, including Whānau Āwhina Plunket, offering immunisations. "There are also more than 122 pharmacies now offering the vaccine for children aged from three years. "The meningococcal B vaccination is a part of the national immunisation schedule. "As a part of the Government's Health Target, we are focused on lifting childhood immunisation rates and we are making good progress towards this goal," said the spokesperson. Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand chair Gerard Rushton said his organisation didn't see a reason for the catch-up programme to be discontinued. "Māori and Pasifika are 4-5 times more likely to catch meningitis than the European population, so they are a higher risk at the moment. We struggle to understand why there's a vaccination programme at the moment that actually discriminates against them. "The full vaccination programme was that the babies are free, there was a catch-up programme for 13-month to 5-year-olds, and that first-year students in boarding schools, halls of residence, barracks or prisons could get it free." "We feel that discriminates against the biggest at-risk group we've got, which is our Māori and Pasifika, because they're under-represented at halls of residence and boarding schools," he said.

Auckland electric ferry hits water for first time
Auckland electric ferry hits water for first time

RNZ News

time11-06-2025

  • Automotive
  • RNZ News

Auckland electric ferry hits water for first time

Auckland Transport's new electric ferry has hit the water for the first time. Workers began the slow process of bringing the vessel from the factory floor into the Tamaki River in Mt Wellington where it will undergo trials. It is hoped the New Zealand designed and made ferries will make ripples worldwide. Victor Waters reports. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.

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