Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Beach lovers unite to protect wildlife

Sonya Bateson
By Sonya Bateson
Regional content leader, Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post·Bay of Plenty Times·
12 Sep, 2016 05:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A shared love for the beach and wildlife brought about 80 people to Mount Main Beach for a community clean up.

A shared love for the beach and wildlife brought about 80 people to Mount Main Beach for a community clean up.

Nathan Pettigrew, who has gained a large following for his photos and videos of his encounters with marine life, organised a beach clean on Sunday after being disgusted at a large mess apparently left behind by fishermen and partiers.

He was "humbled" by the number of adults and children that showed up yesterday morning to care for the environment they too loved.

"It's been an amazing turnout," he said. "Everybody put their hands up and said they would help out. I didn't have to ask for anything, they all said hey, we'll do this.

"I'm absolutely humbled by this."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Jordan Mead, 8, Teresa Gainfort, and Kiera Moser, 8, getting ready to pick up rubbish. Photo/George Novak
Jordan Mead, 8, Teresa Gainfort, and Kiera Moser, 8, getting ready to pick up rubbish. Photo/George Novak

Divers from Dive Zone and Bay of Plenty Polytechnic also took part in the clean underwater, and Greenpark School bought an army of young volunteers, many of whom were avid viewers of Mr Pettigrew's videos.

Much of the mess on Moturiki (Leisure Island) had already been picked up prior to the beach clean, so Mr Pettigrew asked his willing volunteers to also scour Mount Main Beach, Mauao's base track and Hopukiore (Mount Drury).

He said the rubbish on Moturiki was concerning as the island was a penguin habitat.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Rubbish gets crammed into the rocks [on Leisure Island] where the penguins burrow. The penguins either get trapped in or blocked out."

Mr Pettigrew said he was in talks with Bay Explorer, which donated sausages to the volunteers, about making the clean up a regular event.

"This is one small thing, but it will hopefully bring wider awareness for others to do the same thing.

"Hopefully, it targets the people who put their rubbish there in the first place. We're happy to clean up rubbish, but we shouldn't have to do it in the first place."

Discover more

How to protect penguins from dogs

13 Sep 02:00 AM
Sarah Williams found a disgusting knot of fishing line, plastic, rope, seaweed, hooks, driftwood and rag. Photo/George Novak
Sarah Williams found a disgusting knot of fishing line, plastic, rope, seaweed, hooks, driftwood and rag. Photo/George Novak

Volunteer Sarah Williams got the "find of the day" after coming across a large ball of junk.

Seaweed and driftwood were muddled together with different lengths and thicknesses of fishing line, hooks, a bit of rope, plastic and some kind of material that may once have been a bandage.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

03 Jul 08:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

03 Jul 07:32 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

03 Jul 08:00 AM

After nearly three weeks of evidence, counsel have begun delivering closing statements.

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

03 Jul 07:32 AM
Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM
'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

02 Jul 09:11 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP