Mangawhai mangroves fight begins

The battle for Mangawhai Harbour's mangroves is before the court, with the Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society again wanting to remove a large tract of the trees.

Last year the society had a Resource Consent Application for the staged and phased destruction of 87ha of the salt-water trees from Mangawhai Harbour - almost all that are there - rejected after a four-day hearing.

At the time, hearing commissioners said that on the basis of the evidence presented they had been unable to conclude the effects of that mangrove removal on natural character would be minor. The panel added that a more modest removal proposal "might very well prove to be appropriate".

The society is in the Environment Court at Whangarei this week before Judge Laurie Newhook with a new application.

This time it wants to remove a total of 42ha of mangroves from seven sites at Mangawhai Harbour - Lincoln St, Molesworth Dr/Moir Pt, Sand Island, Insley St Causeway and Black Swamp Rd, Back Bay, Riverside Holiday Park to Tern Pt and Back Bay South/Kainui St.

The application is opposed by a number of parties, including the Director General of Conservation, the Northland Regional Council and Forest and Bird.

In his opening to Judge Newhook yesterday, society lawyer Kitt Littlejohn said the removal of the mangroves would be governed by strict conditions the society proposed.

Mr Littlejohn said the aim was to restore the subject areas to the natural environmental state exhibited in the locations before the mid-20th century, when there were few, if any, mangroves.

He said the society's evidence indicated the rapid proliferation of mangroves since 1940 adversely affected the environment by greatly reducing the biodiversity and abundance of organisms in the harbour and its shorelines.

"Within the harbour environment the mangroves have spread rapidly to colonise areas which were formerly mangrove free, and have smothered, displaced or invaded productive foraging and roosting habitats such as sand flats, shallow channels and rush marsh," Mr Littlejohn said.

If granted, the consent would enhance the harbour's health, reverse 60 years of habitat loss, restore biodiversity and enhance foraging and roosting habitat for fairy terns, shorebirds, wading birds and marine species. It would also restore eroded beach areas.

The matter is set to last the week, with Judge Newhook likely to reserve his decision.