'Nothing short of disastrous': Seabed mining project another 'muru raupatu' for Taranaki
No seabed mining written on the beach with boards and canoes
Photo:
supplied / Tania Niwa
About 300 people braved icy waters off the New Plymouth coast on Sunday to protest against the Pātea seabed mining project in South Taranaki.
It was a part of a nationwide stand on World Oceans Day opposing fast-tracked seabed mining applications around the country.
Australian company Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) plans to mine 50 million tonnes of South Taranaki seabed every year. The project last month cleared its first hurdle in the fast-track process with the
application accepted as being complete
.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said there are other applicants waiting to "take sand and make it sludge".'
"To the left of it and to the right of it, inside of it and outside of it. My point being, if we think that TTR are the only people lining up, we're extremely naive."
Some people stood in solidarity
Photo:
RNZ / Emma Andrews
Ngarewa-Packer compared the project to
the Parihaka land wars
.
"We've had the lessons of what confiscation and muru raupatu looks like - we don't need to see them repeated again.
"There's more whenua (land) under our ocean and we are really fortunate as children of resistance, as communities of resistance, as tangata tiriti beside us who have seen the resistance to what it is, to have confiscation of our land."
At the break of dawn, Ngarewa-Packer was amongst the Pātea group who met up and took to the water, then drove to Ngāmotu to do it again at midday.
"The biggest power that you have is when I was out in the moana and I turned around and I looked at everybody, there's this kotahitanga," Ngarewa-Packer said.
"If there's anyone that can show the rest of Aotearoa what unity looks like, it's got to be Taranaki."
some of the more colourful protesters
Photo:
RNZ / Emma Andrews
The West Coast paddle-out was repeated elsewhere - a group from Pātea currently in Tahiti also joined in solidarity.
Pātea's Joanne Peacock said the fast-track greenlight will cause devastation to the community.
"That's where we get kai from, recreational, our fishermen, and we've got a beautiful reef out there, and all the pygmy whales and the dolphins that are coming out there every year now, they're migrating around through the South Taranaki Bight. So, it's huge for us."
John Niwa taking some washed up seaweed for a 'hangī' he reckons
Photo:
RNZ / Emma Andrews
Pip Ngaia from the Waitara Bar Board Riders Club surfs every day, and Sunday's event made him emotional.
"Tangaroa has nurtured all of us, all life, and we just need to take care of them, so this is very important. My heart and soul is into this."
Pip Ngaia chucking a hangloose
Photo:
RNZ / Emma Andrews
He first surfed in South Taranaki "around 50 years ago" and said it was sad to see what was happening.
"It's time for us to take heed of what's happening on our planet, and what's happening in our backyards.
"If the government will get off their arses and actually think about the people, and take care of what we have, they'll stop selling everything."
Waka ama paddlers departed Ngāmotu beach at 12pm on Sunday. They paddled 5km to reach East End beach by karakia.
Photo:
RNZ / Emma Andrews
Anaru Wilkie was one of those paddlers.
"[TTR] have been tested and found wanting in terms of their application, in terms of everything that's been put through the most rigorous tests. For them to come through and then apply through the back door as an abuse of power, an abuse of decency in terms of their application.
"So, who's going to speak for the moana? Our tangata, people. We speak for the moana because its voice has been ignored by statute, by our House of Parliament. So, we're the people, that's why we're here."
Not all people who took part in the protest had boards or vessels. Some also didn't have wetsuits.
Surfers holding hands at East End beach, New Plymouth
Photo:
RNZ / Emma Andrews
Soraya Ruakere-Forbes did not need either, and did not hesitate before jumping in the water.
The longstanding environment kaitiaki said this protest should extend to all of Aotearoa and to the Pacific Islands.
"If [TTR] go through here and start here in our rohe, this opens the door for this to happen all up and down our coast and all up the Pacific. So, we need all of our whanau behind us."
Some people stood in solidarity
Photo:
RNZ / Emma Andrews
RNZ approached TTR for comment. The company reissued a statement released 16 April which said the project was a transformative opportunity for the country's economy.
It said there would be comprehensive environmental safeguards, and the operation would generate more than 1300 jobs as well as $850 million annually, making it one of New Zealand's top 12 exporters.
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