Whangamata Marina wins Boatyard of the Year, also highly-commended as an Environmental Performer

Whangamata Marina. Photo / Supplied

The New Zealand Marina Operators Association (NZMOA) has recognised New Zealand's very best marinas and boatyards for 2022, and amongst them is Whangamata Marina.

By achieving environmental benchmarks, Whangamata once again received 'Clean Marina' status, and was the recipient of two other awards as winner of The Boatyard of the Year, and the highly-commended award of NZMOA Environmental Performer 2022. The awards were announced in a ceremony on 8 September in Blenheim.

In a post on their Facebook page, NZMOA judges said that the Whangamata team "continues to run an impressive marina and boatyard operation that cares for the environment. You go over and above the call of duty and lead by example. Your infrastructure is world-class, and they focus on continuous improvement right across the operation."

According to NZMOA, to receive Clean Marina certification, marinas are audited on factors such as the provision and promotion of recycling facilities, no-discharge policies and their enforcement. Provisions for boat owners to facilitate regular hull cleaning, and the use of sustainable materials and maintenance and building of infrastructure, along with the re-use of dredging materials, are all also considered.

A focus on marina policies and procedures rounds out the criteria for becoming a certified Clean Marina. Key challenges for marinas include filtering and discharge of water from their carparks and boatyards, discharge of wastewater from their customer's vessels, energy efficiency, sorting and recycling of a wide range of waste, and marine biosecurity.

After receiving the highly-commended notification towards best environmental performance, the judges remarked: "Whangamata Marina was highly commended for going over and above the call of duty and leading by example, to run an impeccable operation."

Whangamata Marina manager Susan Amos says the awards were particularly pleasing given Whangamata was "up against much larger council marinas - it's pretty cool to be recognised."

She says the Marina is run as an incorporated society and is highly compliant with environmental guidelines - so much so, that they have been afforded the ability to self-audit, such is their standing within the NZMOA infrastructure.

In winning Boatyard of the Year, the Judges praised the 209 berth operation, saying: "It may be small, but the boatyard at Whangamata Marina is a highly agile, dynamic operation that performs to the very best levels across all aspects of operations."

Susan puts their awards success down to the work of a like-minded team who take the certification and maintenance of the marina "pretty seriously." She adds: "The whole team take an interest and really value the environment. The marina has a very forward-thinking management committee."