Virus-hit oyster farmer: It's been 4 1/2 years of hell and my life's a mess

Alan Tindall told a court yesterday that he had lost three-quarters of his business, his home and his wife.

"It's been 4 1/2 years of hell and my life's a mess," said the Bay of Islands oyster farmer. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."

Mr Tindall is one of nine oyster farmers whose farms were closed in 2001 after traces of a virus carried in human effluent were found.

Yesterday, they began a multi-million-dollar case against the Far North District Council in the High Court at Auckland to get compensation for loss of earnings.

Several sources of pollution into Waikare Inlet have been identified by the farmers, but they largely blame the council-operated sewage plant at Kawakawa.

Mr Tindall, who began oyster farming in 1980 and almost sold the business for about $1.7 million six years ago, told the court he now lived in a one-bedroom flat, worked 15-hour days to keep his remaining business running and did the book-keeping himself.

"My wife had done the books for 26 years, but she had had enough and walked out last year," Mr Tindall said. "I didn't even know how to turn the computer on. How much longer I can do this, I don't know."

Colin Pidgeon, QC, representing the farmers, said the decision to block them from harvesting oysters was taken by Northland Health and the Ministry of Fisheries after outbreaks of gastroenteritis were traced to contaminated oysters.

In his opening address, Mr Pidgeon said expert evidence would show the pollution was likely to have come from a number of sources, including the sewage plant, Kawakawa township sewage and stormwater system, and possible discharge from boats and septic tanks.

There were two issues: whether the discharge caused the closure and whether poor management and design prevented the farms reopening.

"In the evidence of the complainants, that's exactly what happened," he said.

The defendant would argue that it was not possible to prove that the virus found in the oysters definitely came from the sewage plant.

That was accepted, Mr Pidgeon said, but precedents had been set in similar cases that showed "the fact that the plaintiffs were unable to prove who was the prime polluter was irrelevant".

The sewage plant has been upgraded, but the farms will not be allowed to reopen until after comprehensive testing by Northland Health.

The farmers' problems have been exacerbated by a moratorium at the time of the closures on opening new farms, due to claims on the foreshore and seabed, meaning they could not shift to a new location. The long-term leases granted by the Crown also meant the farmers had to pay full costs of returning the seabeds to their original condition if the leases were ended.

"They were trapped," Mr Pidgeon said. "They have suffered dreadfully. Loss of jobs and the stress has caused havoc in personal relationships, homes have had to be sold and retirement savings spent."

The case is being heard before Justice Helen Winkelmann. At least 10 expert witnesses will be called.