Ask Phoebe: Harbour shellfish to be treated with caution

Auckland Regional Public Health Service advises against consuming shellfish gathered in Auckland's urban areas. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Is it safe to eat the oysters growing in clumps in the Manukau Harbour? They are well away from houses and drains.
Geoff Shearman, Auckland.

Dr Simon Baker, medical officer of health for ADHB, has the following to say: "We can't give a definitive answer on whether they are safe to eat because no one does frequent or regular monitoring of shellfish for contaminants, except for testing for marine biotoxins. Oysters are a high-risk food because they accumulate any bacteria, viruses, protozoa, biotoxins or pollution in their environment. The load of contaminants they contain can vary widely depending on their exposure to road runoff, industrial discharges, sewage overflows, leachate from buried material, animal waste or even illegally dumped contaminants.

For that reason Auckland Regional Public Health Service advises against consuming shellfish gathered in Auckland's urban areas, particularly urban harbours."

For more information, please see the shellfish fact sheet on the ARPHS website.

Phoebe, can you tell me why there is no public parking for the train station at Sylvia Park? We are encouraged to use public transport, Sylvia Park is quite central, yet there is no free parking anywhere around. Are there any plans to add a carpark for the train station? Judie Reynolds, Auckland.

While there might seem to be plenty of car parking around Sylvia Park Station, it is all on privately owned land and is for the use of customers of the Sylvia Park shopping centre and their employees.

The motorway and Mount Wellington Highway are highly congested in peak periods and Auckland Transport tries to avoid encouraging Park & Ride at train stations in environments such as this. Car drivers accessing the train here would add to the congestion on the surrounding roads when AT is trying to provide public transport services that relieve congestion.

The New Network for bus services in this part of Auckland will be the subject of a public consultation exercise later this year. It will propose better bus services to and from Sylvia Park, with the aim of encouraging more bus-train commuting through this station.

Could you please clarify the purpose of the yellow cross-hatching lines on Mt Eden Rd where Valley Rd emerges? I thought that such lines meant "keep the marked area clear" but it is constantly used, and subsequently blocked, by traffic turning right from Valley Rd. This results in a stream of vehicles from Valley Rd, often with their rear ends protruding on to the wrong side of Mt Eden Rd, blocking the whole hatched area. At the same time, the queue of cars waiting on Mt Eden Rd sits stationary for a considerable length of time. Diane Morton, Mt Eden.

You thought correctly. In New Zealand, a driver should not enter any intersection unless the exit is clear. It follows that queuing across an intersection is bad practice. The yellow cross-hatching is in place in intersections and parts of roads where it would be dangerous for vehicles to queue.