Bay Harbour: April 03, 2024

Bay Harbour News Wednesday April 3 2024
6
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
‘If you’re not going to
do it, who else will?’
Coutts ‘not a
dolphin expert’
• From page 1
“We’ve definitely been able to
hang out a lot at trainings and
stuff which is cool,” said Tai.
“It’s been fun, but it’s a bit
challenging at times.”
Max’s father Andrew also
completed the course with the
two young recruits.
He was a member of the West
Melton Volunteer Fire Brigade
until 2007, but had to retrain.
“We enjoyed the course
together. I gave Max his space
and he gave me my space, but it’s
great to be able to do it with your
son,” Andrew said.
The firefighters have training
two evenings a week.
“You do have to have good
time management with
homework and stuff. Lots of
learning how to do more things
in your own time,” said Max.
So far he has been called out
on two minor incidents, but he
expects to attend more involved
and risky situations soon.
“It’s part of the duty of being
a volunteer firefighter. Most of
the time it should be pretty safe
and if you’re not going to do it,
who else is going to do it for the
community?”
Tai said the prospect of
dangerous callouts is partly
exciting and nerve-wracking.
“Definitely a bit scary to think
about, but it’s just part of the job,
really.”
The Akaroa brigade is now
well staffed with five new
qualified firefighters, bringing
the total up to 30.
Chief fire officer Mark
Thomson said the increased
number takes some pressure off
the volunteers.
“Two of them are still at the
school, only 200 metres away
from the fire brigade, and
they’re there during the day. It’s
GEARING
UP: Volunteer
firefighters
Tai Bristowe,
Max Sharpe
and Andrew
Sharpe.
a huge benefit.”
The new recruits trained at the
Woolston Fire Training Centre,
learning how to use breathing
apparatus, conduct search and
rescue, and tackle urban fire
environments.
Max and Tai have felt at home
as part of the brigade team,
despite being too young to drink
at the station’s bar.
Going forward, Max is likely
to take a gap year before leaving
Akaroa to study economics.
“Wherever I go, there will
always be a volunteer fire brigade
looking for new additions.”
• From page 1
That “means they have been
assessed as facing a high risk of
extinction in the medium term”,
Department of Conservation
deputy director-general
operations Henry Weston said.
Emeritus Otago University
professor Steve
Dawson was unimpressed
by Sir Russell’s comments.
“Sir Russell is one of the
world’s great sailors but
he’s not a dolphin expert.
It’s the International
Union for Conservation of
Nature that considers the
species to be endangered
and they are the principal international
body that evaluates the
threat status of our animals and
plants worldwide,” he said.
Dawson had been one of the
advisers on SailGP’s Marine
Mammal Management Plan.
Under New Zealand law, no
vessel could go faster than five
knots when it was within 300
metres of any marine mammal,
he said, and that would be the
case wherever SailGP was held.
“It was a courageous move on
the sailing co-ordinator to cancel
the sailing on Saturday, and I
applaud that. It was the right
Steve
Dawson
decision,” he said.
Dawson said he was also a
part of the New Zealand Whale
and Dolphin Trust, which had
turned down SailGP funding for
a conservation project because of
greenwashing concerns.
“We ended up declining
that funding on the
basis that we didn’t feel
that their behaviour over
last year’s racing was adequate
in relation to this
endangered species.
“I don’t want to take
money from any activity
that potentially posed
harm to the animals that
I’m studying. I think that’s inappropriate,”
Dawson said.
His view remained the same
now, he said, and added he would
not accept funding from the
fishing industry, either
Concerns had been raised
about Hector’s dolphins safety
prior to the event, when a Department
of Conservation memo
revealed two dolphins were
sighted on the course in 2023, but
racing continued – despite the
race director being told to stop it.
The harbour has been a marine
mammal sanctuary since 1988.
– RNZ
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