Rena Recovery Newsletter Issue 5 One year on

This Friday is the one year anniversary of the grounding of the Rena. The past 12 months have seen hundreds of people working tirelessly to minimise the environmental impact from the Rena grounding.
The effort from the community, iwi and response agencies has made a huge difference for environmental recovery. We thank everyone who has supported our goal so far – to restore the environment to its pre-Rena state, and those who continue on this journey with us. In this update read details of the six priority programmes for recovery and the highlights from September’s Governance Group meeting which was attended by Minister for the Environment Amy Adams.
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Getting down to business
Six significant programmes have been designed to achieve the goals of the Long-Term Recovery Plan. Here are each of the programmes now underway.

The Monitoring Programme is the largest piece of work to be undertaken. The aim of the monitoring programme is to assess long-term environmental effects of the Rena grounding and monitor recovery. A focus of the programme is to assess kaimoana species and their marine habitats. Surveys and sampling will be done to check if there have been any noticeable ecological changes, and if important seafood species have been affected. Surveys will be in the areas most heavily affected by oil and those of cultural significance to iwi.

The Shoreline Programme will monitor recovery of beaches and rocky shorelines from oil and debris from the Rena. Information will be collected to determine the presence of oil along sandy beaches. The programme, in conjunction with the monitoring programme, will assess how quickly the environment has recovered from the different clean-up techniques used. The programme will also oversee restoration of dunes damaged during clean-up operations.

The Wildlife Programme will assess the effect on wildlife with a particular focus on sensitive eco-systems where there are endangered species, and add to existing pest control programmes to improve breeding success. It will build on existing community schemes so that the programmes endure beyond the Rena Environmental Recovery Programme.
The Biosecurity Programme will survey high risk sites and habitats to assess if new unwanted aquatic organisms have entered the environment, particularly where barge and support vessels were working. Areas to be investigated include Tauranga Harbour, Otaiti (Astrolabe Reef) and man-made structures around Mōtītī and the Mount Maunganui Mātaitai Reserve.

The Cultural Impacts Programme provides an opportunity for tangata whenua to assess how their cultural values have been affected. This assessment will be tailored by each iwi group to suit their needs and perspectives. The programme aims to build an overview of the Māori experience felt across the region, capturing a unique understanding for New Zealand and important lessons learned.

The Mātauranga Programme is focussed on researching the effects of the Rena grounding using a Mātauranga Māori approach. Traditional ecological knowledge will be applied alongside science to create a roadmap for restoring the mauri of the environment to its pre-Rena state. The work includes an assessment of mauri and research will be undertaken by Maketū (Te Arawa) over 18 months. It is anticipated that a model of the process will be produced so that other people, hapū and iwi can use and adapt it to suit their own purposes.

Governance Group pleased with progress
In September the second Governance Group meeting for the Long-Term Recovery Plan was held in Tauranga.
Minister for the Environment Amy Adams chaired with presentations from Awanui Black, the current Chair of Te Moana a Toi Iwi Leaders Forum; Professor Chris Battershill from Te Mauri Moana Tertiary Partnership and David Billington from Maritime New Zealand.
Governance Group members include the Minister of Transport, Minister of Conservation, Maritime New Zealand, Toi Te Ora Public Health Service, Bay of Plenty Regional and District Councils and iwi representatives from across the region.
The meeting was an opportunity to provide an update to all partners on the work carried out in accordance with the recovery plan. Priority programmes were detailed, and presentations provided an in-depth understanding of environmental sampling and iwi engagement.
The Minister praised the efforts of all those involved with the recovery plan and the support provided by iwi, local councils and community leaders.
The next Governance Group meeting will be held January 2013.

Kaimoana sampling results out soon
Results from the sampling program carried out over the winter months are due back next week.
Samples of kaimoana species were taken from a number of locations and include tuatua, pipi, paua, and kina.

The results will provide information on what has happened to ecology in the Bay for all habitats. The same sampling will be repeated in spring and summer.
Results will be on www.renarecovery.org.nz

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Post-release Monitoring Update

Massey University with the support of local volunteers is tracking little blue penguins and NZ dotterel that were kept at the oiled wildlife response centre following the Rena grounding. Monitoring will assess post-release survival and breeding success.
Little blue penguin update
• Monitoring is going well
• The breeding season is now well underway and some chicks have already hatched
• At this stage it looks like a normal number of nests are occupied
New Zealand dotterel update
• To date 43 of the 56 birds released have been seen again.
• Outside of the breeding season birds move around a lot, so it’s not surprising that we haven’t seen more.
• Monitoring over the upcoming breeding season should help account for those not yet seen
• All birds seen so far have looked healthy and have been behaving normally.

Rena Numbers

• The size of the Rena oil spill was approximately 350 tonnes. The top 10 oil spills in maritime history are all over 100,000 tonnes.

• Over $215 million has been spent by owners and insurers so far. This has been one of the most expensive salvage and clean-up operations in international maritime history.

• 100 volunteer beach clean-up events were undertaken by the fourth week of the response, with over 8,000 people registering to help. Nearly 1,000 tonnes of oily waste was recovered.

• Approximately 1,300 tonnes of heavy fuel oil was recovered from on board the Rena during response operations.

• 365 oiled little blue penguins were cleaned and released back to the wild

• 1,003 of the 1368 containers from the Rena have been recovered so far.

Salvage Update

• Operations at the wreck site continue with Resolve Salvage and Fire working to cut and remove pieces of the bow section of the wreck.

• Braemar Howells continues to collect debris from the seabed and along the coastline.

• The Regional Council is managing oil spill response. If you see any oil on the beach call the Regional Council Pollution Prevention Hotline on 0800 884 883.

• The owners and insurer are currently investigating options for dealing with the remaining sections of the wreck.

ends

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