The Whangateau HarbourCare Group is proposing the establishment of a ‘Blue Belt’ stretching from Cape Rodney to Takatu Point and including all of Omaha Bay and the Whangateau Harbour.

The suggested area

Blue belts are areas of coastline and water established to protect marine biodiversity and to restore low stocks of marine life, enabling sustainable harvesting. There are already many of these belts in the United Kingdom, and the recent Motiti Island decision in the High Court established that under the Resource Management Act (RMA), regional councils can approve the establishment of blue belts.

The aim of the Whangateau Blue Belt would be to protect all native marine life, keep the coastlines and waterways clean, healthy and safe, and where necessary, establish or extend marine conservation areas. The recent Hauraki Gulf report highlights the dire state of the Gulf, and the group is looking to turn this around.

A blue belt would bring a ban on damaging fishing techniques like trawling and set netting, but still allow sustainable commercial and recreational fishing and other leisure pursuits on and under the sea.

Before Whangateau HarbourCare can make a case to the Auckland Council for a change to the Unitary Plan and the creation of a blue belt, community consultation and support is needed. 

Should it go ahead as hoped, the Whangateau Blue Belt would be established in memory of Doctor Roger Grace, a marine biologist devoted to marine conservation. He spent more than 15 years as a roving photographer for Greenpeace on their ocean campaigns. He researched and monitored environmental impacts, wrote popular articles and learned reports, mapped the seabed in several Northland marine sanctuaries, and produced a multitude of images of the undersea world. He has had a huge effect on the marine sustainability efforts happening in our area.