Pipi plight questioned

Northland Regional Councillor Dover Samuels says there is a lot of "cultural gobbledegook" about the plight of pipi and fellow councillor Craig Brown asked why a Marsden Point hapu has assumed the mandate to research the shellfish's demise.

At the council's last full meeting for the year this week, the Patuharakeke Trust Board was approved $62,000 to oversee a Mair Bank pipi study. The funding is through Northport's Whangarei Harbour Health Improvement Fund, a mitigation measure established during the deep water development in 2001 but the funds distributed by NRC.

Mr Brown voiced concerns about a potential conflict of interest in trust chairwoman Juliane Chetham being both a trustee and the contractor overseeing the pipi study. He asked why NIWA or the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) were not doing the study. Maori were not the only party interested in the health of the local coast, he said.

"I am a little concerned that this money is so easily handed out. Have the communities of Waipu, Ruakaka and One Tree Point been asked who should have the mandate?" Mr Brown said.

The project proposal includes contracting NIWA to do some research and outlines Patuharakeke as kaitiaki, or local guardians. It also acknowledges other stakeholders, including local residents, Northport, Refining New Zealand and NRC.

The number of pipi on Mair Bank off Marsden Pt has fallen from an estimated 10,000 tonnes to less than 100 tonnes since 2005 and there is a rahui, or ban, on gathering them. The failing shellbank and loss of a food resource is of concern to Patuharakeke for cultural as well as environmental reasons, and to the port and refinery because of possible effects on the shipping channel.

While it is not known why the pipi have died, similar mass deaths have occurred at Ngunguru estuary this year. A bacteria infection was found in all specimens tested by MPI but it is the first time it had been associated with a die-off.

At Tuesday's meeting Mr Samuels said pipi had been "dying and shifting for years ... Ngunguru locals say they are coming back there".

"Will we have to keep paying out this money for years, too?" He said it was important the subject did not get taken over with "cultural gobbledegook".

Cr Graeme Ramsey said he supported the Patuharakeke Community Pipi Monitoring Programme as "a chance for vital research to be done that adds to our knowledge".

Mr Ramsey successfully moved that another clause be added to the recommendation, identifying a possible conflict of interest and ensuring the process was rigorous.