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Friday 2 February 2024
Bay's ocean bounty bagged
Another fresh catch "snapped up" by a successful bidder on his way to the filleting table. Photo: Alistair Hughes. ALISTAIR HUGHES
Unlike last year, the annual Pōhara Boat Club’s fishing competition was blessed with beautiful weather for both days of the weekend. A total of 51 adult and 35 child entrants took to the waves, or cast from the shore, to bring the best of the Bay’s ocean bounty to the weighing table. Boat club committee member Kelly Jaquiery was thrilled with the event. “It was a huge success,” she reported, “with lots of happy kids, and proud winners with their prizes.” Kelly said that although approximately 80 per cent of the competitors were in boats, some major prizes were won by surf casters. “ We raised money for the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter and the Nelson Coastguard by either auctioning the fish at the end of the competition, or by people who preferred to take their catch home paying a donation to have them filleted.”
Kelly’s husband Colin and Nyle Richards were in constant demand, expertly filleting the fresh catches. Nyle was pleased to note that fishers took good care of their catches this year, resulting in no sun-damaged fish being brought to their table. “I learned bouquet filleting at Talleys when I left school”, he says, “and I’ve been doing it professionally for about thirty years.” Nyle can fillet 100 species professionally, so was ready for whatever competitors presented him and Colin with. Predictably, snapper figured highly in the commonly caught category, but the most unusual catch was a surprise to everyone; including Shane Petterson, the very busy fishery officer on duty for the event. Local PR and marketing consultant Shelley Grell recounts her "one that didn’t get away" story: “The waves were calmer on day two, but the fish weren’t biting for many. We tried several different spots but had only managed to catch a spiny dogfish and a kahawai from
a passing shoal. So we'd just about given up when Steve Tennant hooked a thresher shark.” Shelley notes that the distinctive longtailed fish is apparently a prized catch for anglers. “But probably more for the challenge than the quality of the meat, as they jump into the air spectacularly.” An expectant crowd had the opportunity to bid for their favourite catch as Craig Taylor opened the auction around 3.30pm. Bidders gave generously, although apparently one of the very impressive kingfish auctioned went for quite a bargain. By the end of the afternoon, 188.8kg of fish had been donated, and the total raised for the rescue helicopter and coastguard came to a total of $1625.90. The Pōhara Boat Club wants to extend a special thanks to all of the generous sponsors who helped make this year's competition a very successful event which even attracted hopeful anglers from the other side of the Hill.
Dam nears completion JO RICHARDS
Almost five years after construction began, the Waimea Dam project is now very close to completion and will shortly be fully commissioned. In its media release, issued last week, Waimea Water Limited ( WWL) – the company formed by Tasman District Council ( TDC) and Waimea Irrigators Limited to build and manage the dam – announced that the newly-created reservoir Te Kurawai o Pūhanga had reached full capacity and water was flowing down the spillway. WWL CEO Mike Scott acknowledged the significance of the event. “This is a momentous milestone for the project, and I thank all those involved in getting us to this point.” While this development gives shareholders a cause for celebration, ironically it comes at a time when Waimea Valley residents connected to some of the council’s urban reticulated water supplies are subject to ongoing restrictions. Whether the commissioning of the dam will alleviate such problems in future is unclear; the scheme is designed to release water into the Waimea River, rather than pipe it into reticulated systems. It is one of the many criticisms of the controversial project raised by ratepayers who have seen costs balloon from $75.9m in 2017, when TDC consulted on the financing arrangements, to the current figure of almost $200m. Long-term critic of the project Lew Solomon of Water Information Network (WIN) says, despite the enormous cost overrun, the council has not been for thcoming about how it will be apportioned between the various partners. “TDC has not published any update of the capital funding model... it is completely out-of-date.” WWL has attributed the big budget blow-out to a combination of unexpected [but arguably foreseeable] geological problems, along with covid-related issues, including material availability and cost, construction delays, and contractor disputes. Some residual risks remain, even at this late stage. WWL’s most recent Quarterly Report states: “Greater embankment settlement than expected could put the dam face mechanical systems out of alignment. Greater seepage than expected may also require post construction intervention. In such eventualities, WWL... Continued on page 3
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Inside: Les Sixtus Movie review Bike race Wiki meeting Dog trials Arts festival THE GB WEEKLY, FRIDAY 2 FEBRUARY 2024
ISSN (PRINT) 2538-0923 ISSN (ONLINE) 2538-0931
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