We’re running out of time
In just weeks we will see a fast track application submitted to allow an Auckland mining company access to dredge sand from Bream Bay for the next 35 years.
McCallum Bros are using the Fast Track process to green light its proposal to extract 8,450,000 cubic metres of high value marine sand for private profit.
Applications are now being accepted for consideration by the EPA and Fast Track panels. Once submitted, this economically and environmentally damaging mining operation could receive consent without any public consultation — within two months.
Sand mining will destroy our beaches and marine life
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Sand mining will destroy our beaches and marine life *
Sand mining turns sea floors into deserts, erodes coastal protections, ruins surf breaks, kills scallops, and threatens the habitats of critically endangered species like the Tara Iti - our most endangered bird.
McCallum Bros, an Auckland-based mining company, is planning to extract 8.45 million cubic meters of sand from the seabed in Bream Bay over the next 35 years.
They have likened its dredging operations to “a vacuum cleaner operating on the seafloor.”
Their proposal includes dredging up to five days a week, for hours at a time, with all the sand being sold for private profit to Auckland's construction industry to make concrete. There is no benefit to the local economy.
Bream Bay sand is over 6000 years old and was deposited thousands of years ago when the Waikato River flowed out on the east coast. It will never be replenished.
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McCallums Bros have stated the removal of millions of tonnes of sand will have no impact on any part of what is on, in or around Bream Bay.
In the coming days it will start releasing 16 impact reports prepared by environmental and engineering firm Tonkin & Taylor in support of this claim.
We have just weeks to analyse and credibly refute these reports. So we need;
people who have expertise in the affected areas, bathymetry, fisheries, marine ecology, coastal erosion, the knock-on economic effects
resource management lawyers or advisers
people willing to contribute to funding experts to quickly prepare reports
people willing to contact Northland Regional Councillors and MPs to voice their opposition
people to engage local influencers and personalities that can support through their platforms
Langs Beach erosion after Cyclone Gabrielle
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