Marine rubbish in the Auckland area - what to do

[Guest]

Yes! Good suggestion Anttay. I have carried rubbish for up to 5 weeks. I don't think sailors are a problem, but all the above suggestions are excellent, as is the idea of putting the word out via nowcasting.

 

Now what about when local govt dump enormous amounts of raw sewage into our waterways?

[Guest]

Now what about when local govt dump enormous amounts of raw sewage into our waterways?

 

This is a public service announcement........could you all evacuate the water please...there has been a raw sewage spill. That new years sucked at Whangamata and it would be awesome if there was another way to dump sewage when the plants get to full.

[Grinna 2]

Now what about when local govt dump enormous amounts of raw sewage into our waterways?

 

Oh the stories I could tell

[Guest]

Does a shipping container dropped over the side of a freighter high and dry on a reef constitute "marine rubbish"?

 

If so, I tell ya, those things can be a real barstard!

[Bogan 8]

The most consistent source of trash in the outer gulf (Coromandel and Gt Barrier) is the mussel farms. Floats, mussel ropes, and most commonly the short bits of rope they use for lashing the mussel ropes to the main strings. Go to any bay out there in the farming area and it is littered with 6 to 12 inch sections of rope.

[Fogg 427]

Ailys comet – given what others have said about some organic waste floating, have you ever noticed problems with this technique? And when you talk about ‘disposal onshore’, what does this usually involve?

 

When emptying my organic box some of it sinks immediately and some of it might float - so it's just a question of doing it in an appropriate spot. For example I regularly sail between Gulf Harbour and Kawau and if I've accumulated anything in the organic box I'll ditch it around the halfway point - which I estimate is at least 5 miles from land in any direction. I think that's about the minimum I feel comfortable with. Otherwise it would go into my bin bag and get taken ashore.

 

Disposal ashore ususally means dumping in the bins back at the marina if it has been a short trip i.e. a weekend or long weekend. If it's a longer trip then it means finding either a barge or an alternative if no barges around - which is hard.

 

As Fusion said, the majority of users on this forum have marina-based yachts. And I'd guess that the answers you'd get from marina-based launch owners would probably be very similar. But if you want to get the views of that other huge group that inhabits the boat ramp, you'd need to find a different channel - dunno where they hang out online, probably try a fishing forum?

[raz88 96]

I agree with virtually everything said above.

 

One thing I don't think anyone's really covered is how far you'd be willing to go to get to a rubbish drop off point of some sort and therefore how many barges people would want installed?

 

I figure that it would be good to get somewhere to drop your rubbish within an hour or so for most common destinations around the gulf. Given that the average speed of a cruising yachtie is probably 5 knots or so, expecting them to zip around to Oneroa from the bottom end and back, or from Kawau back to gulf harbour, just to drop off their rubbish is probably going to mean most of them look for an alternative (which hopefully is just to hold on to it but in some cases could result in dumping etc).

 

I'd think around the Hauraki Gulf in addition to the existing drop off facilities at Oneroa and barge at Barrier maybe something at the bottom end and something at Kawau would satisfy most people? Rakino/issy bay etc are close enough to Oneroa to plan in a visit there to drop off rubbish if required I reckon. As already said I'm sure most would gladly pay a contribution when using the bins too. And they'd probably only be required through the summer as most peoples trips would be shorter the rest of the year so they can take their rubbish home to the marina.

 

I was another surprised by the situation in the BOI this year. We did a week there this year and ended up piling up a weeks worth of rubbish and putting it in the bin at Tutukaka marina on the way home. A weeks worth of rubbish looks quite big piled in the cockpit of a 29 footer...

 

For us it's more or less a whole day to get from the outer bay into Russell or Paihia, drop off rubbish, then get back out to the bay. The old barge being in the outer bay meant that although you had to make some effort to get there if you were on the other side of the bay, you could plan to swing past it as part of your normal holiday activity and didn't loose a day out of your holiday going in to Russell.

[lisae 0]

Thanks everyone; I will reply specifically to some points but in the meantime, all very useful info especially regarding the length of time/distance you'd be willing to travel. Interesting ideas about making the visit worth your while as well - other options as well as offering fresh water as suggested.

 

My general feeling is that this is largely a summer thing out on the water; but the problems at the mainland small boat ramps are likely to be present all year round.

 

I am definitely talking to the fishing fraternity as well. We're very aware that there are several customer groups involved all of which will behave in different ways.

 

And I'll store up all these comments about the BoI and pass them on - also I think Auckland Council might need to work with Thames Coromandel DC to coordinate the southeastern are of the Hauraki Gulf a bit - it's TCDC territory in the main. Kawau Island is definitely on the list for having something in place. The facility on the mainland was obviously not that appropriate and became a target for illegal dumping from land sources.

[Guest]

In the BOI why not just have stickers for use on your own rubbish bags. And as there are always DOC & Regional boats going around why not have them selling the stickers and letting everyone know where the rubbish drop off points are.

They are more than happy to come up to your boat and ask if you know the rules with dolphins, diving, rubbish and even sometimes give you an iceblock. Why not sell stickers, saves a long trip into russell or paihia.

[rigger 47]

Friends used a heavy duty Plastic bucket with a solid lid on it and crush all the non recyclable trash into it. Amazing how much can go into one bucket.

All recyclables washed and back in the box they cam in or crushed (not the glass) into another bucket.

Cut the tops and bottoms out of tins and flatten.

 

Suggested pouring a bit of bleach into the bucket if the contents started to reek

 

The biggest reduction in rubbish onboard is done before stowing everything onboard, strip of as much packaging as possible

- if it has cooking instructions on it, take a photo of them using your phone if you cannot remember them.

- use a permanent marker to label all items so you do not need the extra packaging.

[Megwyn 2]

As a recently converted trailer yachtie, I can attest that when we were out for weekend sails, we would bring our rubbish back home with us to be disposed of through normal collection services.

 

On longer trips - ie our 2 weeks at the Barrier - we used the rubbish barge.

We also used the barge at Man O War bay at Waiheke.

 

Now, we bring our rubbish home as we are not away for more than overnight at the moment.

 

Habits don't change when we change our boats.

 

M

[DrWatson 375]

My old 23' keeler had a massive lazarette, probably 20% of interior volume. It was the perfect place to keep a massive bag for rubbish, except if you weren't careful it would grow too big to get out of the hatch and you'd have to go ferreting..... ooooook!

 

KM is dead right. Most of the rubbish is purely from over packaging. It's also a bugbear of mine. Over here they sell all the organic produce, carefully wrapped in plastic. It's completely insane.

 

I routinely pick up rubbish I sail past - if it is spotted in time. It makes good practice for new and old crew alike. Also a good way to get new fenders and cockpit cushions.

 

The mussel farms suck for rubbish. A few years ago (10-11?) I camped at Tucks Bay above coromandel township. At low tide I picked up two full black sacks of rubbish, mostly mussel farm detritus. The next high tide brought at least as much back in.

 

There is an amount of accidental rubbish. Oars, ropes, caps!, prescription sunglasses (Shark bay in Kauwau if anyone finds them), torches lost over the sidedecks in the dark, spinnaker poles, Charts and hand tools. Top pocket cellphones are a guaranteed loss.

 

I very rarely chuck anything over the side. Sometimes meat scraps, but most vege stuff I leave in a box like AC has. I try to take very little packaged fast food (packs of pasta meals etc).

 

Beer cans reign supreme over bottles, it's just a shame that most of the beer in cans tastes worse than the bilge water they sometimes soak in.

 

For tramping, I've been known to open and transfer good wines to plastic bottles before departing. Good wines can take it if you drink them in a day or two... Make sure there is little to no ullage in the new bottle to cut down on oxidation - or drop a tiny piece od dry ice in the top, and half close the PET, then when the dry ice has almost gone, fully close.

 

My Father, an old Navy guy, taught me to never throw anything away. It might be useful if you get into a spot of bother.

[ab1974 1]

Good thoughts Rigger. Preplanning what packaging goes on board by pulling food out of packing and storing in reusable containers that can be washed saves huge amounts of rubbish space.

 

We try not to carry bottles (Mt Gay the exception) and just suffer drinking beer from cans so they can be crushed down.

[wheels 543]

We drink Wine onboard and then have lot's of empty wine bottles and I refuse to throw them overboard like I have known others to do. But maybe we should look at Chatau Le Cardboard so as we can crush that down. Dawn cuts any cardboard into small pieces to save room in the rubbish. Plastic is the biggy. We take out only what packaging we have to, but even then somehow we bring back a large volume of rubbish than I reckon we took out there.

[lisae 0]

Hi all

 

Here's a thought for you all to comment on maybe:

it's sounding like some kind of 'pay when you throw' system would work better than a pre-paid bag. These kind of systems do exist, but when they've been used in other parts of NZ there have been problems with vandalism and other abuse - e.g. illegal dumping.

Are we going to have the same kind of problems in the marine community? More? Less?

 

Thanks everyone for your input so far.

Lisa

[Farrari 4]

I'm not so sure that "some kind of 'pay when you throw' system would work better than a pre-paid bag" would be better for many of the reasons you mention. I carry cash on me when out but generally its in big note demoninations and I don't have a lot of small change. It would also be impractical to pay for the service as you dump. Coming along side a rubish barge in the wrong winds or sea state can be an excercise in itself without having to try and deposit some funds.

 

I would prefer a generic prepaid ticket that could be used in the whole area that I cruise in and could be purchased before I depart. Whatever you do its likely to be an honesty based system I would have thought. Anything else would be too complex and potentially put off the honest rubish bag disposer in any case.

[Fogg 427]

Agree with Ferrari. If you want to clean things up you need to minimise barriers. Charging at point of dumping is the wrong strategy... people will be switched off. Whatever you come up with needs to be costed within existing Auckland ratepayer services. The marine environment means you can't operate the same model as on land cos people don't have the option to pop out and buy a pre-paid bag on a whim.

 

I don't think it's a hugely complex issue, experience shows that the floating rubbish barges at Barrier and elsewhere are a huge success. More of those in the seasonal hotspots would be equally successful e.g. Kawau/Bon Accord, Mahurangi, Rakino/Woody Bay and around Waiheke.

 

And floating barges reduces the risk of attracting household waste from land-based toerags.

[w44vi 17]

[Murky 1]

In my view, it comes down to practicalities rather than principles.

 

To make pre-paid work (stickers or bags) they need to be always in stock and visibly displayed in...I'm guessing here...probably more than 200 outlets in the Auckland region. Might be a lot more. Chandleries, fishing/bait shops and dairies/general stores at all the major marinas and near launch ramps and where they exist on the islands. Probably service stations near launch ramps as well for the fizzboats?

 

Stickers logistically preferable - they take up less space and work with whatever bag you happened to have on hand and can be applied retrospectively.

 

Ideally they have a life of more than a season - I know why pilots/trials are sometimes necessary and changes can be required but better if these things are not rendered valueless by a change the following year - it encourages people to buy and keep a decent stock.

 

Availability on the water (DoC boats etc) a huge bonus.

 

If it is too much of an undertaking to establish and ongoingly maintain relationships with all of those retailers, then charging at the point of dumping seems to be a logical way of bringing the focus down to the end users.

 

To be possibly painfully clear and at the risk of causing offence, if the system relies on needing to know which of a small number of locations stock the necessary items, it is most likely to fall down.

[wheels 543]

If you have prepaid bags, then you need to have someone to ensure no non paid bag gets dumped.