Waka removed from Clive River, Hawke's Bay, but it might never go back

Jim Edwards spends almost $1500 every time he has to transport his waka. Photo / Warren Buckland

Hawke's Bay's iconic waka has been pulled from the Clive River and its owners say it might never come back.

Owner Jim Edwards said because of mud and grass clogging the river, and the lack of tours they were able to take out as a result, they were now preparing to take it somewhere else.

"We were going to try to put it back in the water by October because we have a couple of big events coming up, but now we don't even know if we are going to be putting her back at all.

Jim Edwards with his waka which might have spent its last time in the Clive River. Photo / Warren Buckland

"This place is our home, we don't want to go anywhere else because this is home."

Edwards said although they used the waka to "educate" rather than make money, when tours are not able to be run it took a toll.

The river is still passable for the waka in its current state at high tide, but cruise ships also come in at high tide and by the time the tide rises again the tourists are back on the ship.

"Each year we spend around $15,000-$18,000 on maintenance which cruise ship tours normally paid for, but this year we have only managed a couple of cruise tours, which isn't going to be able to pay for what we have to do."

It takes a team and massive crane to get the almost 5 tonne waka on the back of the truck. Photo / Warren Buckland

Edwards said they had been doing the odd school trip.

Early last year, Hawke's Bay Regional Council cleared the mud where the waka berths, as an interim solution and also again this year for Waitangi Day celebrations.

The Clive River is dredged, on average, once every 10 years, and it was last done in 2007, with the next dredging scheduled for 2019/2020.

Each time it costs about $1 million.

Edwards says the dredging cleared the river, but more had to be done to make sure the river stayed clean and didn't build up with mud and weeds.

The waka becomes stuck when the tide goes out with mud and weeds building up in the river. Photo / Paul Taylor

"Something has to be done because we can't just do a temporary fix every 10 years, we need to find another solution to sustain and protect the river for future generations."

The waka, called Nga Tukemata o Kahungunu, is the only fully carved war waka used on a regular basis in New Zealand.

"The only other time the fully carved ones come out is on Waitangi Day, or special royalty members or government members," Edwards said.

"Our one is there for all, men, women, children, tourists, whoever, that's why we're so proud of what we do because it truly benefits the community."

Edwards and his wife Marie have been doing tours up and down the river since 2000.