Minister welcomes release of Rena monitoring report

Environment Minister Amy Adams today welcomed the release of a report into the effects of oil pollution on the Bay of Plenty environment, following the Rena grounding.

“While the key findings of scientific monitoring and sampling show that the environment has not yet returned to its pre-Rena state, it is encouraging to see that the environment is recovering,” Ms Adams says.

“The report concludes that the grounding of the Rena should have no long-lasting effects on Bay of Plenty beaches and coastal fisheries.”

The report was released by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council today. It covers the first two years of research work and is one of the most comprehensive, multi-disciplinary studies ever undertaken in response to a marine pollution incident.

“While good progress has already been made to date, it is important that we continue to monitor the Bay of Plenty environment to give us a better understanding of what still needs to be done.”

The Government has invested $2.42 million to support the Rena Recovery Plan which addresses and monitors the long term effects of the grounding.

The programme identifies the environmental issues for the beaches, seabed, water fisheries, wildlife and management of waste, and sets out the responsibility for the recovery and monitoring of each aspect.

"I want to pay tribute to the hard work and collegiality of the local councils, iwi, businesses and the thousands of volunteers for the way in which they came together to help minimise the impact of the grounding and for the work they continue to do.

“Collaboration between the community, iwi, businesses, central and local government has been a key success of the project.

“With their help, we will continue to work to restore the Bay of Plenty environment back to its pre-Rena state.”

More information about the monitoring results is available at: http://www.boprc.govt.nz/news-centre/media-releases/december-2013/monitoring-shows-little-long-lasting-effect-from-rena-grounding