IMPORTANT MESSAGE for people living in the Bay of Plenty - RENA Grounding For the last seven days the volunteer effort has been underway and the response has been amazing. As at 3 pm yesterday there were 5000 volunteers registered and more are still signing up. And to support the volunteers local individuals and businesses have been doing baking and delivering food and drink to the teams. National On Scene Commander Nick Quinn says they have been both overwhelmed and humbled by the generosity and kindness of the local Bay of Plenty community.
Message from the Iwi Liaison Team
Wildlife
Ko tä te tirohanga Mäori ki te taiao, kua kotahi atu, kia kotahi mai ki te Ao Turoa.
Any sighting of wildlife with oil should be reported to:
Ko au te taiao
Please do not try to clean up oil or handle the wildlife. The wildlife needs trained responders to handle them. Wildlife centres have been set up. If you want to volunteer to be part of the clean up, please call the number above.
Ko te taiao ko au
We of course, for whom the beach is our backyard, are not surprised at all that people are coming out in droves to support every effort being made to bring our place back to the way it was. We do need to sound a note of caution however. In these early days we are all driven as much by adrenalin as we are for the love of our beaches and wildlife - but we need to prepare ourselves for the long haul. At the moment the amount of oil on our coastline, estuaries and islands is manageable and we seem to have enough energy, resources and people to keep the effort up. But there’s no room for false optimism – our community will be affected by this oil spill for weeks. This means that we will be needing the energy and goodwill of our community well into November so please do not feel upset or disregarded if your name has not yet come up for call up as a volunteer. Your turn will surely come. Finally the Councils have launched a fund for people who want to donate money towards the longer term efforts that will be needed. The fund is called the ‘Bay of Plenty “Care for our Coast” fund’. More on this in the box opposite. Thank you everyone.
Containers Please do not attempt to open any of the containers as some of the containers could contain hazardous material. It is an offence to open or retrieve anything from them. If you do see a container, phone:
0800 OIL SPILL
Care for Our Coast Tauranga City boat ramps closed Care For Our Coast Fund The local councils have banded together to create a fund that will be used exclusively to assist community groups to care for the Bay of Plenty’s coastline and estuaries following the oil spill response. You can make a donation at any National Bank or ANZ branch as follows: National Bank:
Stuart Crosby, Ross Paterson and John Cronin
0800 333 771
Account number: 06-0489-0094734-50 ANZ Bank:
Account number: 01-1839-0256313-00 Details on how the fund will operate can be found on the Bay of Plenty Regional Council website: www.boprc.govt.nz
All recreational boat ramps are currently closed. This is not only to protect your boats from the damage caused by oil but alos to prevent cross-contamination of oil into other parts of the coast or harbours.
Message from Catherine Taylor Director Maritime NZ Please pass onto the people of the Bay of Plenty, iwi, staff of the councils, the local businesses and organisations our sincere and grateful thanks for the absolutely amazing and professional support and assistance they have given Martime NZ throughout the past 12 days (and probably many more to come).