Bay Harbour: April 14, 2021

Bay Harbour News Wednesday April 14 2021
8
NEWS
Council to
stop accepting
cheques
for payment
THE CITY council will no longer
accept cheques as a payment
method from the end of this
month.
Acting general manager
resources Diane Brandish said
the council will not be accepting
cheque payments from April 30,
2021, because the ANZ, BNZ and
Westpac are phasing out cheques
in May and June.
Brandish said there are other
payment options available to residents
including internet banking,
telephone banking, automatic
payment, credit card or in person
with cash and Eftpos at any council
service centre.
“Rates can also be paid by
monthly or quarterly direct debit,”
she said.
“The advantage of a direct
debit compared to an automatic
payment is that the amount being
paid doesn’t need to be adjusted
every new rating year.
“Direct debits always take the
exact amount being asked for on
the rates demand, meaning residents
never get behind on their
rates.”
To be sent a direct debit
form phone 941 8999 or 0800 800
169.
• By Samantha Mythen
HECTOR’S dolphins advocate
Genevieve Robinson is
demanding better marine
protection of the dolphins.
Robinson delivered a legal
opinion to Environmental Canterbury
on Monday, challenging
its lack of action in protecting
hector’s dolphins.
She is asking
for stronger protections
of the
dolphins from
trawl fishing and
gillnetting. Under
the Fisheries
Act, trawlors can
operate within
two nautical miles
from shore.
Robinson hopes ECan will act
urgently, either banning gillnetting
and trawling in the Hector’s
dolphins habitat or banning
both fishing activities within 12
nautical miles from shore.
Robinson engaged prominent
Resource Management Act
lawyer James Gardner-Hopkins,
after becoming increasingly
frustrated by ECan’s failure to
uphold its duties in protecting
the dolphins.
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Call for better protection for
hector’s dolphins from ECan
Genevieve
Robinson
ENDEMIC SPECIES: Hector’s dolphins are the smallest
oceanic dolphin species and call the Banks Peninsula
waters their home. PHOTO: GENEVIEVE ROBINSON​
During last year’s lockdown,
Robinson routinely monitored
fisheries activities in the Banks
Peninsula through online apps.
“While we were locked up in
our homes, fisheries carried on
as usual, working as an essential
service,” she said.
Robinson then discovered,
through an Official Information
Act request, a hector’s dolphin
had been caught by a fishing
vessel in March.
The fishermen at the time had
reported this to the Department
of Conservation, which then
notified Conservation Minister
Eugenie Sage.
However, the public were only
told of the dolphin by-catch five
months later.
Said Robinson: “Hector’s are
still being caught. It goes on. We
know it goes on.”
Robinson believes change
needs to occur around the way
fishing is allowed in areas where
there are also large populations
of hector’s dolphins.
“The problem is the marine
sanctuary in the Banks Peninsula
is not doing its job,” Robinson
said.
“It is only a sanctuary in terms
of protecting the dolphins from
seismic surveys and mining.
Sanctuary is a word that looks
good on paper but it doesn’t play
out its proper role based on the
public’s conservation expectations.”
In the letter, Gardner-Hopkins
acknowledges ECan has the
power to impose controls of fishing
through its regional coastal
environmental plan in order to
protect hector’s dolphins.
“ECan can make protective
changes overnight. If they go by
the books, it will take too long.
We need urgent action on this,”
said Robinson.
Robinson has previously called
out the Lyttelton Port Company
on its cruise berth construction
plans.
Prior to her first sighting of
hector’s dolphins in 2013, she did
not know New Zealand had an
endemic dolphin species.
Since then, she has been working
“non-stop,” to advocate for
their protection.
Fresh BluFF Oyster
seasOn has Opened
These are absolutely delicious
and a treat to the palette.
Enjoy au naturel,
crumbed or battered.
Don’t miss out as always
a limited season.
39 Norwich Quay, Lyttelton
Wednesday - Sunday 12pm – 8pm
Phone: 03 328 7530
fishermanswharf.nz