Pākiri seabed sand mining protesters voice their opposition as a McCallum sand mining ship passes by.
An environmental battle to save the ocean fought by generations of local families has finally come to an end, with a company abandoning its bid to continue sand mining off the Pākiri coast.
Auckland-based company McCallum Brothers (MBL) has been at the centre of a fight against locals along the Mangawhai Pākiri coastline to take thousands of cubic metres of sand yearly.
But last week the company formally filed a notice of discontinuance to the High Court at Auckland and will abandon its sand dredging operations effective immediately.
For Pākiri local advocate Damon Clapshaw the decision comes with mixed emotions and ends a long and repentant fight.
“It feels like the end of the reign of the white witch of Narnia,” Clapshaw said.
“For many families, it has been a constant, generational blight without an apparent end in sight. That ends today.”
Over the years, Clapshaw has provided significant evidence to the courts that the actions of MBL were causing significant damage along the coastline.
“We revealed that the dredgers had created, and hidden, deep seabed trenches [which is] a breach of their offshore consent,” Clapshaw said.
“In parallel, local iwi were united, strong and compelling in highlighting significant cultural harms.
“We proved that onshore erosion was being caused. We revealed many operational misstatements, incorrect science and gravely concerning dredging operations.”
The bay between Mangawhai and Pākiri has had long-standing disputes with sand dredging for concrete companies dating back to the 1940s.
Kaipara Limited had the consent for two decades before it was transferred to MBL in 2021, forcing the company to apply for a renewal in 2022.
The application was to take two million cubic metres of sand over 20 years, which triggered 655 applications in opposition.
It was refused by the Auckland City Council and wound up in the Environment Court and the High Court, which refused the application and appeal.
In the 2024 Environment Court found the company’s ecological evidence was patchy, inconclusive and the cultural effects on mana whenua could not be mitigated.
The court also found works undertaken had not been properly monitored by the overseeing council.
MBL was then ordered to pay Ngāti Manuhiri Kaitiaki Charitable Trust $450,000 and Clapshaw’s legal and investigative costs of $50,000.
Despite being granted a temporary consent, MBL filed another appeal but last week formally withdrew the application, ending the decades-long battle.
The company also reached a private settlement with Ngāti Manuhiri.
Clapshaw told NZME it was a win for the small community in one of New Zealand’s biggest environmental cases.
“If we had lost, right now there would be two parallel consents off Pākiri Mangawhai generating hundreds of millions of dollars of income for the McCallums at our expense,” Clapshaw said.
“The stakes for the beach could not have been any higher.”
Clapshaw said a highlight had been the combined community opposition but the area had paid the price for uninterrupted sand dredging for close to 80 years.
“Now, it may rest and gently try to heal.”
Clapshaw passed on his thanks to the activists, lawyers, ecologists, local iwi and thousands of people who had signed petitions.
The company confirmed it planned to pursue applications filed under the fast-track initiative to take sand further north from neighbouring Te Ākau Bream Bay.
MBL will have to go before a panel to apply for a consent to take up to 150,000 cubic metres of sand for the first three years and 250,000 per annum thereafter.
The proposal will affect a 14km area of seabed, 4.7km from the shoreline along the coastline of Langs Beach, Waipu, Uretiti and Ruakākā, a move that has also sparked outrage.
Spokesperson for activist group Bream Bay Guardian Mary Sinclair told NZME although they were exceptionally happy with the Pākiri decision, the fight was not over up the coast.
“It’s been a long fight in Pākiri and we’re really, really happy for them. Now they can get on and focus on their regeneration of the environment,” she said.
Sinclair said their group had been trawling through court records for Pākiri as they prepare to oppose any applications filed by MBL.
“The environment court records of their appeal to renew their Pākiri consent have got a lot of detail about how they’ve acted over the last 80 years and how much the community has been devastated in terms of the beaches, seabed and sea life, as well as how they’ve breached their consents,” she said.
“If they think that by pulling out of Pākiri and focusing on Bream Bay means they can sweep all of that evidence under the table, they’ve got another thing coming.”
Sinclair said the group propose to stand by local hapū, Patuharakeke and Te Parawhau, to fight any action taken by MBL.
“We do not want our unique beaches, seabed and sea life destroyed and we all know how fragile that is in Bream Bay. We’re in for a fight and we’re not going to give up.”
MBL did not reply to a request for comment from NZME.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.