Festival set to thrill page 4
Cuisine fit for the Queen page 13
Model men pages 24-28
September 27, 2021
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Avtar Singh, An ita Bhanbari from Bhanbari and Ben Butter Chicke n Box.
Peter Jade Nichols and . fé Ca Q m fro n Quin
April zie and ench. n e k c a o Fr nM Morga Ngaamo at S ll Drisco
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Mahurangi at
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As Auckland m oved to Alert Level 3 last wee k, residents enjoye Mahurangi d of relaxed restric their first taste tions, lining up for takeaways. Cafes in Warkw orth opened fo r contactless service, giving many their first flat white in five weeks. Ther e was a half-an -hour wait to order fast food at the Grange as tradies, now permitted to w ork, came to bu y lu for the drive th rough, extended nch. Queues on Residents rallied to support loca to SH1. l, social media an d listing eaterie taking to s that are doing delivery or cont ac Tamaki Makaura tless pick up. Meanwhile, u reached an im milestone last w portant eek, with 80 pe r cent of the eligible popula tion having rece ived their first vaccination. Th e Go per cent of Auck vernment’s goal is to get 90 landers to have had their first dose within tw o weeks of Aler t Level 3.
The Grange in Warkworth.
Dredging threat to Mahurangi fishing A ban on scallop dredging off the Coromandel coast has sparked fears commercial operators will switch their operations closer to the Mahurangi coast, with potentially devastating consequences for recreational fishing, tourism and businesses generally. Warkworth Gamefishing Club and Warkworth-based diving shop, New Zealand Diving, is currently alerting interested local groups and businesses to the dangers and urging them to band
together to oppose the dredging. The fears come after Fisheries Minister David Parker endorsed a voluntary rahui and banned scallop harvesting on the eastern Coromandel earlier this month, after widespread concern that dredging operations had devastated both the scallop beds and the wider marine environment. New Zealand Diving owner Neil Bennett says dredging involves dragging a net across the sea floor, which scoops up not just the
off the drawing board . . . Graham SaweII
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER
scallops, but also things like seaweed, mussels, crabs, crustaceans and invertebrates, much of it food for larger fish species. “Basically, the whole ocean bed where they dredge becomes barren. It destroys everything,” he says. “Most other places in the world have banned dredging but in New Zealand it is still going on.” Mr Bennett says the Mahurangi area is a major recreational fishing destination
and the negative impact of dredging on tourism and business generally will be huge. He estimates about 70 per cent of his own customers are interested in diving for scallops. “We are already suffering from the loss of crayfish, now we are destined to lose our scallops. Once we lose them, it’s another nail in the coffin for tourism in Rodney,” he says. Mr Bennett’s views are echoed by LegaSea continued on page 2
A multi award-winning local architectural design practice specialising in bespoke residential projects, with sustainable design principles integral to all work, from a home based Tawharanui Peninsula studio.
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Contact Graham today! graham@pyramidzarch.co.nz
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