KEY POINTS:
Proposals to allow people to pull out young mangrove seedlings from estuaries in the Auckland region do not go far enough, says North Shore City councillor Vivienne Keohane.
The Auckland Regional Council has suggested changes to its coastal regional plan which would allow hand removal of mangrove seedlings without a consent and under certain conditions the removal of mangroves for access, drainage or infrastructure safety.
Consent would be needed for other types of mangrove removal.
The council says the changes were prompted by Auckland communities worried about mangrove spread and uncertainties over their management.
The main cause of the spread was an increase in the habitat preferred by mangroves as muddy sediments released during land development accumulated in estuaries and harbours.
Mrs Keohane said mangroves had been proving a nuisance in the upper Auckland harbour.
"Forty years ago or more there were nice beaches in the area ... now the mangroves have spread, they have trapped silt and killed off anything living in the water. They are choking the area."
Mrs Keohane said boat access up the creeks was severely limited.
"Now we are lucky to get a dinghy in with the place so silted over."
While the proposed plan changes would allow people to pull out the smaller mangroves, Mrs Keohane said they should be able to pull out the bigger ones as well.
A local group with permission had been keeping an area clear byremoving young mangroves but ended up "pulling their hair out" because so many pods were coming off the more mature plants.
Mrs Keohane said communities should be able to remove bigger swathes of mangroves and the rules needed loosening up so the removal of larger specimens did not have to be linked to physical structures.
She was confident that would be the majority opinion of communities from Birkenhead to Glenfield and Albany but conceded some mangrove lovers could be outraged.
Graham Purdy, chairman of the Pahurehure Inlet Protection Society (Pips), welcomed the proposed plan change which allowed for more discretionary removal of mangroves.
"At the moment we need a resource consent."
Mr Purdy said it would allow the "holding of the line" so mangroves could be removed without permission where they were under 0.6m high.
"It means new growth can be chopped back."
Mr Purdy said Pips was formed about six years ago as concern about spreading mangroves grew.
"We want to return the inlet to a recreational lake."
He said he had photos which showed there were once no mangroves in the inlet, but they had now taken over about half of the water area.
"What was a natural beauty spot is now full of mangroves."
Mr Purdy said locals wanted to make the area more recreation friendly for the likes of boating, kayaking, windsurfing and fishing.
Mark Bellingham, North Island manager of Forest and Bird, said he was reasonably comfortable with the proposed plan changes.
He said mangroves were colonising waterways as a result of poor land management.
They remained important nurseries for many coastal fish species and attracted significant bird life too.
Tui, silver eyes, banded rails and fantails were abundant around the Hobson Bay mangroves.
"You find more native birds living in mangroves than the leafy suburbs."
Paul Walbran, chairman of the regional council's strategy and planning committee, said the issue was complex with no one-size-fits-all answer.
Mangroves deserved protection for a number of reasons, including their ecological value and their role in preventing coastal erosion.
But in some areas mangrove spread was affecting other ecological values like the displacement of wading birds and changes to the way the public used and enjoyed the coast.
Mr Walbran said the proposed new policy offered a balanced approach to mangrove management, recognising the need for their protection in some areas but also accepting that in some circumstances their removal might be appropriate.
* Submissions on the new policy close on November 28.
