Waipu beach algae takes care of itself

A marine ecologist who has been tracking the movement of a blanket of stinking algae at Waipu Cove claims although some of it has receded with the tide, more of the rotting algae has entered the nearby stream.

Floor Anthoni, director of Warkworth-based Seafriends marine conservation and education centre, visited Waipu Cove this week and has renamed the beach "Wai-piro", which is Maori for "stinking water".

He said he believes changing ecological conditions, such as human waste and fertiliser fuelling weed and algal growth in the ocean, has led to the issue.

Dr Anthoni, who formed Seafriends more than two decades ago and was recently commissioned by the Auckland City Council as a consultant for beach grooming, declared the weed on the beach appeared to be cleaning itself out. However, the stagnant stream was still a concern as it has become a breeding ground for bacteria responsible for decomposition. "These bacteria are programmed to kill and we are cultivating them in the creek," Dr Anthoni said.

He said he believed this will be helped by opening the creeks to the sea for flushing and considering making a narrower creek channel for faster flow, which is exactly what the Whangarei District Council (WDC) intends to do.

The WDC received resource consent to open the river mouth late last week and conditions permitting, will complete the work next week in order to time in with low tide.

Meanwhile, Waipu Cove campground managers Anton Trist and Lucy Fernee will be just glad to see it all gone.

Mr Trist said the Waipu Cove Reserve Board, the body behind the campground, had met with representatives from the Northland Regional Council, WDC and Department of Conservation during the past few weeks but couldn't do anything without resource consent.

"You need resource consents to do anything. Having said that, if we'd had rain we wouldn't be standing here right now talking about it. Most years it [the weed] gets washed out again," Mr Trist said. Waipu Cove Reserve Board Secretary Angus McCulloch thinks it's also a case of timing.

"If we can manage it better next time, like if we'd got consent and started work in December last year rather than now," Mr McCulloch said.

The resource consent received by the WDC is ongoing so will not have to be reapplied for in the future.

Despite having managed the Cove campgrounds for less than a year, Mr Trist and Ms Fernee said the consensus among locals was that the weed was the worst it's been yet.