16 Aug 2012

Whangamata Surfing Bar Dredging Monitoring Being Ignored By the Waikato Regional Council

The Surfbreak Protection Society (SPS) is waiting for a response from the Waikato Regional Council regarding an offer made by the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) to host a workshop to discuss and seek positive outcomes for the degraded surfing quality at Whangamata Bar.

Surfers at the world famous surfbreak, the “Whanga Bar” have stated that the surf quality has deteriorated notably since the Whangamata Marina developers constructed and started their maintenance dredging regime.

SPS have been trying to engage Waikato Regional Council (WRC) since 2007 (before construction of the marina) as to what science needs to be employed to effectively monitor the wave quality on the Whanga Bar, as it is the opinion of SPS that the current monitoring regime is not adequate.

After a meeting of some 50 concerned local surfers at Whangamata in May 2012, SPS produced a report detailing the bar monitoring, the dredging of the marina access channel, and SPS’s own independent monitoring of channel dredging.

SPS has concerns with one dredging method employed termed “Lift and Drift” in the marina access channel, regarding the reported and actual volumes disturbed, and the effect it is having on the Whangamata Bar and wider environment.

A web friendly version of the Whanga Bar Monitoring report can be downloaded from the society’s website http://www.surfbreak.org.nz/?p=2964

ENDS

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