Port agrees on spotter patrol

An airborne spotter will guard against dolphins and whales being harmed if explosives are used to deepen Auckland's container shipping lane.

Employing a marine-mammal spotter is part of a deal announced yesterday to settle an appeal by Friends of the Earth against Ports of Auckland's plans to dredge the Rangitoto Channel.

The two groups have agreed on a range of measures to protect marine mammals from any blasting of seabed rock, including provision for a spotter in a plane, if the blasting can be done within one day.

Opponents of the $20 million scheme to deepen the channel by up to 1.5m had appealed to the Environment Court.

The Auckland Regional Council recommended in October that Conservation Minister Sandra Lee grant consent to the project, which potentially involves blasting 1ha of rock in the 9km-long shipping lane.

The port company's infrastructure manager, Ben Chrystall, said blasting would be done only if the rock was too hard for ripping by powerful backhoes.

Friends of the Earth is concerned at the impact of underwater blasting on the health and hearing of nearby whales and dolphins.

- STAFF REPORTERS

nzherald.co.nz/marine