Please be prepared to help clean up Eastern Bay of Plenty beaches

Training sessions for beach clean up volunteers are being arranged in the Eastern Bay of Plenty on Sunday 16 October in anticipation of oil reaching the Eastern Bay coastline.

Volunteer Coordinator Bruce Fraser says the training is precautionary at this stage. “We don’t know exactly when or if oil will reach our coastline but we want to be prepared if it does.

“Over 100 people from Ōhope and Matatā have been trained already. Training more people will allow local residents and iwi to get ready and equipped to respond immediately. Personal protective equipment is being arranged in Whakatane to be distributed around the training sessions.

“I encourage people keen to volunteer in the Eastern Bay to register through www.boprc.govt.nz/oilspillvolunteers or phone 0800 645 774. Alternatively you can turn up to a training session and register on the day”.

The training sessions will take place at the following locations and times. Please note that if oil reaches the coastline before the training sessions take place, a clean up session may follow immediately after the training.

Location Time
Torere Marae 10.00am
Waiotahi Surf Club 10.00am
Te Kaha Main Marae 12.00pm
Whangaparaoa Marae 2.00pm

Over 1000 people have already donned protective equipment and cleaned beaches spanning Mount Maunganui to Pukehina through Operation Beach Clean. Sunday will see hundreds more people out on the beaches helping to return our beaches to normal.

For further information or to register to volunteer please see the volunteer hub website www.boprc.govt.nz

A public meeting will be held on Monday night at Whakatāne High School Assembly Hall in Goulstone Rd starting at 5pm to provide more information on the oil spill. A meeting for iwi will be held at Te Runanga o ngāti Awa’s offices in Louvain St at 3.30pm.

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