Dave Antunovich, of Westpac Mussels Distributors, said there were a few things to comply with such as water tests before the farm was operating. Photo / Alan Gibson
Dave Antunovich, of Westpac Mussels Distributors, said there were a few things to comply with such as water tests before the farm was operating. Photo / Alan Gibson
A controversial mussel farm proposed off the Far North coast has been given a new seal of approval by the Environment Court with a raft of conditions.
The mussel farm will cover just over 86ha next to Stephenson Island, opposite Whangaroa Harbour, and an economist's report said the project wouldcreate 87 jobs and bring millions of dollars to an "impoverished" part of the country.
The original application by Auckland-based Westpac Mussels Distributors was for a 125ha farm but it was scaled back by independent commissioners for the Northland Regional Council who also ordered it be at least 200m from the island.
Whangaroa Maritime Recreation Park, which opposed the granting of 35-year consents for the farm in January last year, went to the Environment Court but lost and is now worried about potential legal costs its members might have to pay for the challenge.
Spokesman David Keys said the court's decision was "very disappointing" in light of the mass opposition to the project by the Whangaroa community.
"We're apprehensive about that (legal costs) as we're a small community group with no legal entity."
Pete Sehmb, spokesman for the Whangaroa Sport Fishing Club which supported opposition to the marine farm, said any cost award against the mostly elderly and retired citizens would be "really scary". "What disappoints me is that a commercial entity comes to an area that's protested by private individuals and now the legal costs could fall into the hands of private individuals when they represented the wider community," he said.
Dave Antunovich, of Westpac Mussels Distributors, said there were a few things to comply with such as water tests before the farm was operating. The consents will allow the company to farm mussels and collect spat, and occasionally raise oysters, paua and scallops.
The proposal attracted 278 submissions when it was publicly notified in 2011 - 14 in support, two neutral, and 261 against. (Before the hearing, held in Kerikeri in last December, one submission was withdrawn and one changed from opposition to neutral.)
Principal Environment Court judge Laurie Newhook ruled that the consent holder should not undertake activities in such a way that excluded public access to and along the coastal marine area.
Detailed analysis of the wave climate, putting up of navigation aids and submitting of engineering reports to the regional council also form part of the conditions outlined in the consent.
Westpac Mussels Distributors, owned by West Auckland's Antunovich family, already grows mussels at Houhora and the Coromandel Peninsula.
