“Revitalising the Gulf” Plan by Stephan Bosman and Lachie Harvey
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Issue 956 - 29 June 2021 Phone (07) 866 2090 Circulation 8,000 Not everyone happy with government’s “Revitalising the Gulf” plan By Stephan Bosman and Lachie Harvey This aerial photo was taken overhead Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine Reserve on Saturday last week. Under the “Revitalising the Gulf - Government Action on the Sea Change Plan” document that was released early last week, the marine reserve will be extended by an additional 14km². A plan to better protect the Hauraki Gulf Whitianga over Queen’s Birthday Weekend seaboard of the Peninsula. Two large areas to to marine reserves, but will allow for (an area covering 1.2 million hectares from addressing the state of the ocean surrounding the north and south of the Alderman Islands customary take. In addition to trawl fishing, north of Auckland to Waihi Beach, including the Coromandel. and the waters surrounding Slipper Island sand extraction and mining will be prohibited the Waitemata Harbour, the Firth of Thames, According to the document, the will be classified as “High protection Areas”, in Seafloor Protection Areas. Great Barrier Island and the east coast of the government’s plan has two primary and Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine Reserve According to the government, the most Coromandel Peninsula) may finally be on the goals - to provide effective kaitiakitanga at Cathedral Cove will be extended by an notable benefits of the document will be horizon. Central government released early (guardianship) of the Hauraki Gulf, along additional 14km². an increase in the shellfish population, last week a document setting out their goals with healthy functioning ecosystems. In addition, two areas just north of Waitete allowing some biodiverse areas to recover, for restoring the health of the Gulf, taking The plan includes limiting trawl fishing - Bay on the west coast of the Coromandel and increased participation of mana into account the recommendations from the bottom trawling and Danish seining (taking in Tukituki Bay and Happy Jack whenua and stakeholders in local fisheries Sea Change - Tai Timu Tai Pari Hauraki specifically - to selected “corridors”, banning Island) and at Cape Colville at the top of management decisions. Gulf Marine Spatial Plan that was published recreational scallop dredging and freezing the the Peninsula will also be designated as Not everyone is happy with the in 2017. commercial scallop dredging footprint. High Protection Areas. A larger area at Cape government’s plan. Cooks Beach resident, Release of the document, titled Eighteen specifically identified areas Colville, surrounding the High Protection “Revitalsing the Gulf - Government Action scattered throughout the Gulf are also set to Area, will be classified as a “Seafloor Alison Henry, a member of the Sea Change on the Sea Change Plan”, came not long become subject to more stringent regulations. Protection Area”. working group, is disappointed that trawling after a well-attended public meeting in Four of these areas are along the eastern High Protection Areas will be similar (Continued on page 3) Distributed throughout the Coromandel Peninsula, coast to coast from Thames to north of Colville - www.theinformer.co.nz Not too upset about not winning a TV “bigger than the house” By Tony Stickley Whitianga artist, John Henson, isn’t too upset could earn a living by painting. “I had reached demanded for a work of art, when he could not do too well, as the product became more that he did not draw first prize in an America’s that mid-life crisis situation where I was tired knock it out “for free”. expensive than the industry was prepared Cup painting competition run by The New of advertising. I was just getting too old for it,” John’s wife, Megan, chipped in, “We had to pay. Zealand Herald and Panasonic. he said. been married 25 years before he did any Several examples of his handiwork can be His entry, featuring superstars Blair Despite losing interest in the advertising paintings for our own home.” seen in the Mercury Bay Museum, including Tuke and Peter Burling on New Zealand’s industry, John employed methods straight from In addition to landscapes, John has also an animated model where visitors can see a AC75 lightning fast foiling monohull on the the ad man’s handbook to promote his painting dabbled in pet paintings and abstracts, simulated process for making butter by simply Waitemata Harbour with downtown Auckland career in Wellington. and has done artwork for SeniorNet pressing a button. in the background, was published as one of five “At one stage I did a lot of paintings of Whitianga and for the Lioness Club of John is also a keen model aircraft enthusiast finalists in a full page promotion in The Herald houses as an income on the side. I had got Mercury Bay. and a member of the Mercury Bay Aero Club’s back in March. sick of advertising and it was just a stop-gap However, his talents are not restricted to modeler section. “I was one of five finalists who had their measure. art but also extend to electronics and electro- At one stage he had a ham radio licence and painting published in The Herald and we then “Basically, I would get together a list of mechanical devices. dabbled in electronics to build a radio control went into a draw to win a 65-inch Panasonic heritage houses - what were referred to as arts When he decided he had had enough of system for his models. TV and a signed Emirates Team New and craft houses - and then I would go to the advertising, he turned his mind to the animated “They would have been very expensive to Zealand jersey. properties, knock on the door and ask if they display industry, though he admits he did buy off the shelf at the time,” he said. “There was no actual winner of the painting minded me taking some photographs of their competition as such, just whoever of the five home as I was thinking of painting it and after won the draw and that was not me,” said John, I finished, would they like to see it. who nevertheless was rewarded with a gift of “They would always say ‘yes, yes, yes’,” a set of sound cancelling ear pods, courtesy of said John. Panasonic. Later, when the painting was complete, He joked that he didn’t really want the TV he would put it in a temporary frame and take anyway, “as it is bigger than the house”. it back to the homeowner. Originally from Birmingham in England, “I would take the painting to show them and John (78) started working as a technician at would say they could buy it if they liked and the age of 16 in the photographic department usually they did want to buy it, as they were of what was the biggest advertising agency very proud of their homes. in New Zealand at the time, J. Ilott Limited. “It was a bit of a con-job. In a sense I was But he was much more interested in the creative really an ad man - I had presented them with side of the business. an offer they could not refuse.” “Because I had always been a ‘good drawer’, He does not belong to any artistic I became a commercial artist and progressed organisations and regards painting as work from there to visualiser and finally art director,” rather than a passion. said John, who is also counts photography “Some people enjoy it very much and among his many accomplishments. are consumed by it, but I am not like that,” When he was about 50, John decided that he said John, who has painted most of the pictures had enough of advertising and as a stop-gap hanging on the walls of his house because he Whitianga’s John Henson with the America’s Cup painting he entered in a measure decided to turn his hand to seeing if he was not prepared to pay the colossal sums competition run by The New Zealand Herald in March. What’s happening in the night sky? Night sky information provided and sponsored by Week of Wednesday, 30 June to Wednesday, 7 July - The Pleaides/Matariki star cluster will be visible before dawn in the east for early risers. It will make a nice sight in binoculars with brilliant Jupiter and fainter Saturn high above. Saturn rises at about 8:30pm followed by bright Jupiter about an hour later. Brilliant Venus, and fainter and more reddish Mars will lie close together and very low in the NW sky after sunset. Wednesday, 30 June - The Moon sits below bright Jupiter with fainter Saturn above in the late evening sky. Thursday, 1 July - Saturn rises at about 8:30pm, with much brighter Jupiter following about 9:30pm and the Moon joining the party around midnight. Matariki (the Pleaides) will lie far below them just before sunrise. Saturday, 3 July - There will be a very low and short International Space Station (ISS) pass from 6:22pm in the south before it quickly passes into the Earth’s shadow. Monday, 5 July - The Moon lies just above the Pleiades (Matariki) in the predawn sky while Mercury is at its highest in the NE dusk sky. Astronomy Tours and B&B Tuesday, 6 July - The Moon has now moved to be just above and to the right of Matariki at sunrise, with Orion further to the right and Mercury much lower Phone (07) 866 5343 down also on the right. Wednesday, 7 July - The pre-dawn Moon now sits just below a line connecting Matariki on the left and the red giant star Aldebaran in Taurus on the right with Mercury lower down.