KEY POINTS:
After an unsuccessful legal battle that threatened to bankrupt them, a group of Bay of Islands oyster farmers now need to find up to $3.5 million to clean up their polluted farms.
The 11 oyster farmers, forced to shut up shop by sewage spills in 2001, were hit with a legal bill of more than $300,000 after unsuccessfully suing the Far North District Council.
The farmers blamed the Kawakawa treatment plant as one of the potential causes of the contamination and tried last year to sue the council for $12 million. But the High Court ruled in the council's favour, saying the pollution could have originated from septic tanks or boats.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
