Letters to the Editor

 

Obligation to protect fairy tern
I agree with Mary-Anne Boyd that the wharf restoration project could be an “exciting proposition” if it didn’t further pressure the critically endangered fairy tern species. However, the facts would indicate that this species would suffer from further significant interference with its habitat.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) works in all areas of New Zealand where land, plants and animals are at risk. So for it to respond to activities which further endanger an animal already at risk is not surprising, but rather to be expected. The wharf project may seem a simple local project, but it has national (and even international) significance. Biodiversity is recognised as key to the health of the planet, however it is being increasingly eroded. DOC has an obligation to deploy “significant resources” to save the fairy tern.

Human history is interesting and important to preserve. Local volunteers are doing a marvellous job of preservation in various places in Mangawhai including at the museum in the pioneer village where early Maori and pioneering stories are recorded. There is certainly a place for collecting and restoring our early history.

With regard to the fairy terns being “adaptive”; they have already had to be hugely adaptive to human activities, the arrival of many new predators and now climate change events. We, as a species, are responsible for all of these interferences with their well-being. As these birds are now critically endangered it seems they have reached the limit of their ability to be adaptive, so they shouldn’t be subjected to yet more pressure.

I agree that seeking consent to restore the wharf must have taken many hours of volunteer work. The Fairy Tern Charitable Trust is a volunteer-based organisation which was formed 12 years ago with the purpose of educating people about the plight of the fairy tern, advocating for them, carrying out pest control and assisting DOC rangers in monitoring bird nest sites and recording data for management and research purposes. The volunteers have had to raise money to resource these activities. All this takes hours of time and much dedication but, unlike with the MHWT, there have been no Provincial Growth Fund monies to help.

Stories and memories of old can be enjoyed at various sites in Mangawhai. Let’s enjoy the experiences that our estuarine surrounds will bring us if we allow the wildlife their own space to be.

Glenys Mather
Mangawhai Heads