When I took my Mum down to Waikaraka she was deeply saddened by how there was no more swimming hole and sandy shores, no more manu or titiko (shell fish). Just a maze of mangroves - stretched across the estuary like a sign on a private swimming pool saying "Keep Out".
Many mudslinging working bees later, the dramatic change is a testament to what good old fashioned hard work and community spirit can do. It is well worth taking a drive out to the end of Plummer's Point Rd and looking back to Tu Koro Island and The Waikaraka Estuary to see the transformation.
There are many who oppose the removal of mangroves for many different reasons.
I have sat in court cases and read the reports by judges and journalists, authorities and authors, and I have also listened to the korero of the old people like Mum, who I will put my trust in when it comes to kaitiakitanga - the guardianship of our forest and birds, our whenua and moana.
If we don't want sea lettuce or sea squirts, mangroves and pirau pipi, then stop pouring poisons, chemicals and excess nutrients into our moana.
Surely it is that simple and I don't need Forest & Bird or 'selected' scientists to tell me any different. The mangroves in our backyard have gone. We removed them by man-made and mechanical means and now Tangaroa's Children in the form of sea life and our tamariki have come back to play again.
I strongly disagree with Ann Graeme in a recent Forest & Bird article when she states: "All our children and grandchildren will value mangroves."
Try telling this to tangata whenua in Papaka or Pirirakau, in Maungatapu or Matapihi who have lived mangrove-free for 500 years. I can't see them ever thanking Mr and Mrs Mangrove for making their favourite swimming holes and kai baskets into an impenetrable mud bath.
However, I do agree with Ann and her bird-loving Dad Basil when they say: "Mangroves are not worthless."
They are just worth a lot less when they infest our estuaries and waterways and turn them into a choking mass of "smelly cabbage" as the kids call it.
We understand they can be the lungs of the land but we didn't invite them in to breathe for us. That invoice should be sent up stream to where the silt comes from. Developers' silt that makes the bed for the smelly cabbage to sleep in.
Mrs Graeme went on to quote Judge Smith in a recent hearing on the mechanical removal of mangroves:
"There must be some justification to remove mangroves beyond a mere dislike."
I agree. Our justification was never a dislike of Papatuanuku (Mother Nature). It was about taking our estuary away from the mangroves and giving it back to tangata whenua, who can now swim in it. Who can once again eat the kaimoana that have returned by the kete full.
There's your scientific mediated modelling right there.
Sometimes I wonder what the motivation is for these groups.
Have they lived on these shores for 500 years?
Perhaps they need to talk more to tangata whenua and less to the scientists.
broblack@xtra.co.nz
