Rena update #225

Salvage

•The tender process for the next stage of salvage work - wreck removal - is continuing.

• Environmental clean-up company Braemar Howells will be giving Matakana Island top priority in its shoreline clean-up operations over the coming weeks. The Bay of Plenty island is a popular dotterel breeding ground. Braemar operations manager Neil Lloyd gave an assurance that the best possible clean-up effort will be made over ensuing weeks and then halted, so as not to disrupt the breeding Dotterels.

• Areas further down the east coast are also the focus of clean-up plans. Recent adverse weather has stirred up debris in the Pukehina area and further down the coast. This debris includes plastic gloves, refrigerated container foam, timber, boards, plastic and noodle packets. A labour force and vessels will be sent to those affected areas once a lengthy “good weather window” permits. Ongoing surveys have revealed some of the flotsam has washed up in areas inaccessible by land and therefore Unimar’s marine assets will be used in those recovery plans.

• The Braemar/Unimar team is also continuing its efforts beyond shoreline clean-ups. Overseeing the wreck’s safety and security and monitoring its status is also part of the Rena brief, as stipulated by the owners. Braemar would like to remind the public that the exclusion zone around the Rena is still in place and craft are instructed to remain well clear.

• Preparations are being made for the retrieval of more containers currently on the seabed in areas of less than 50 metres.

• Community groups and school children have received some environmental education in Coromandel townships this week. Braemar’s iwi liaison officer Adam Desmond has been speaking at public meetings and visiting schools to talk about Braemar’s Rena-related clean-up operations.

Oil spill response

• The oil spill response has been reduced from a Tier 3, or national level, to Tier 2, or regional level, response. Any queries about the oil spill response should now be directed to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

ends

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