Posted: 17 February 2005
Shellfish reseeding trials win $37,446 grant
Ongoing trials to reseed cockles at Takahiwai near Whangarei have received an almost $37,500 boost from an annual fund designed to improve the health of Whangarei Harbour.
The cash is part of a 10-year $500,000 Whangarei Harbour Health Improvement Fund funded by Northport Limited since 2001 as part of the resource consent conditions for its multimillion dollar Marsden Pt deepwater port.
The port company agreed to put up money each year to enable improvements to the health of the harbour and for the study and/or mitigation of the effects of the port development on sites of significance to Maori.
Northland Regional Council (NRC) Coastal Monitoring Team Leader Bruce Howse – who administers the fund on behalf of the NRC - says two projects put forward by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) had secured this year’s funding.
Mr Howse says NIWA had sought $37,446 for the third stage of ongoing work to monitor existing cockle reseeding trials at Takahiwai.
“This proposal involves the expansion of these trials and/or the establishment of new reseeding trials and the monitoring of these through to February, 2006.”
Mr Howse says NIWA had also sought up to $46,220 for seagrass restoration trials in Whangarei Harbour.
However, Regional Councillors who considered the application in Whangarei yesterday (Weds 16 Feb) agreed to grant the lesser sum of $5000, dependent on NIWA successfully locating other sources of funding for the work.
Northport Ltd and a Kaitiaki Group for Whangarei Harbour had earlier recommended both the projects chosen for funding this year, however, there was not sufficient funding available this year to meet all the costs of the seagrass project.