Hawke’s Bay fishing trawler Twofold Bay to become an artificial reef

LegaSea hoped to sink the trawler upright. Photo / LegaSea

A Napier-based decommissioned fishing trawler will likely become an artificial reef off the Hawke’s Bay coast.

The Twofold Bay is hoped to be sunk off Taits Beach between Flat Rock and Waipātiki in 22 metres of water so divers may eventually visit the wreck.

In 2006, the trawler was at the centre of a salvage drama after running aground on rocks on the northern side of Mahia Peninsula with a crew of three aboard.

LegaSea is a non-profit organisation dedicated to restoring the abundance, biodiversity and health of New Zealand’s marine environment and was gifted the 22-metre-long trawler for the project.

Its Hawke’s Bay spokesman Wayne Bicknell said LegaSea was in the process of co-ordinating with local groups and hoped to obtain resource consent in the next month.

“We are doing all the due diligence first. We are talking to all the people we need to before the application as our view was to get them all onside first.”

Bicknell said they had worked to mitigate any environmental risks from the “worn-out” trawler and would follow the “London Protocol” to protect the marine environment from human activities.

The project is a year in the making and is hoped to be completed by December. Photo / Paul Taylor

“We have done all the homework on what the paint is on it and what contaminants that might hold.”

Another consideration faced by the LegaSea team is to ensure the trawler won’t move, or be placed on existing habitat.

The Twofold Bay could soon rest at the bottom of the sea. Photo / Paul Taylor

“It won’t be just the boat. We are looking at putting reef balls or reef cones around it, which is like a triangle pyramid, with the top cut off, to encourage growth.”

Bicknell said they needed to remove the engine, hydraulic oil pipes and anything that had the potential to float.

The trawler nets would be recycled and made into chopping boards by LegaSea in Auckland.

If completed, the sinking would be the first of a vessel specifically for creating an artificial reef in Hawke’s Bay.

Two artificial reefs have been established northeast of Pania Reef from limestone boulders removed from a revetment wall to make way for the new wharf Te Whiti at the Port of Napier.

LegaSea said the sinking of the vessel would “add to the biodiversity of a largely mud-based sea floor, increase dive locations for locals, present opportunities for tourism and provide a greater abundance of kai moana”.

The project is hoped to be completed by December.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.