Whangarei’s residents have made it clear they want a harbour to be proud of, but achieving that is going to require an on ongoing effort both by authorities and every one of us.
Whangarei Harbour is a food basket to many, a recreation area for locals and visitors, a scenic icon for the district and a valuable marine environment. It is a valuable asset and resource which is under threat and must be protected and restored.  The high profile sewage overflows is just one of the measures needed to ensure the health of our harbour. The bay outside the harbour was named Bream Bay for the vast numbers and quality of the snapper that once populated its waters.
The problems facing Whangarei Harbour are not unique and in many ways parallel the situation with Porirua Harbour near Wellington where authorities have developed a strategic plan setting out goals and outcomes for the long term health and sustainability of the waterway. Their findings apply just as strongly to Whangarei.
To create a healthier harbour the report identified four broad priorities:
“General and targeted education and awareness programmes and increased enforcement activity, capability and resources.” By itself education won’t be enough; there has to be a willingness and the resources to enforce water quality regulations.
“Strengthened controls over land management such as urban and rural development, forest harvesting and improved foreshore and stream litter management.” Those controls are aimed at reducing or halting runoff from farms, from eroding stream banks and hillsides and stopping pollutants and litter flowing from the streets into stormwater drains and into the harbour.
“Strong inter-agency collaboration and cross-boundary consistency and effective political leadership”. The Regional and District councils have to work together on this one.
“Infrastructure improvement and innovative or `best practise’ approaches – stormwater, sewerage, landfill and roads.” Stopping the sewage overflows through improved treatment, storage and stormwater infrastructure is a major, but not the only, concern.
The success in achieving or making serious progress on those four priorities can be measured using three main indicators:
* Reduced sediment rates. There will always be some sedimentation in a harbour, but riverbank planting, afforestation and other measures will keep it to a more “natural” level.
*Reduced pollution inputs. Faecal bacteria from the sewage overflows, septic tanks and farmlands along with nitrogen runoff from rural land and toxicants (metals, hydrocarbons etc) from roads and general litter, all have to be controlled or limited
*Ecological restoration. Planting the stream borders and replanting/encouraging seagrass are two ecological projects in Whangarei Harbour
While the much publicized sewage/stormwater overflows probably have the most significant effect on human use of the harbour there are many more measures that have to be undertaken if we really want a truly healthy harbour.
That would be a harbour where fish can breed and flourish in seagrass meadows, where the water is clean and clear so the shellfish beds can be always open and always provide a seafood treat, where there are no plastic bottles or other rubbish floating on the surface or half buried in the seafloor – a harbour we and our children can enjoy, benefit from and be proud of.