The Rena grounding and Waihi Beach

The Rena grounding at the Astrolab reef is a disaster for fishos and divers alike not to mention the communities up and down the BOP coast who are potentail recipients of the spilled oil that is starting to darken our coastal shores. The echological damage to the reef and the surrounding coast will not be able to be adequately measured with time being the only healer.

For locals who have time to lend a hand check out the webpage below for your options www.waihibeachinfo.co.nz/waihi_beach_community_info.html

Astrolabe reef is a favourite fishing spot of  Ali  - she caught a large kingfish there (65kg's)  back in the day and has fished there many times with great memories of good fishing - will it ever be the same again? Will it ever recover?

What about the oil that is leaking onto our coastline - how are we placed to deal with that. If it reaches Waihi Beach do we have a plan to deal with it - I am not aware of a plan - I'd love to know what it is if there is one.

We all know what a paradise we have here at the beach and what we think of our marvellous coastline - lets hope we don't have to have to clean oil from our beaches this far north. You only need to look at the BP spill in the US and the damage done to the nearby coast, marine life,birds and fishing to get an idea of the scale potentially of what we have on our doorstep!