Sand mining at Pakiri beach: Our submission to Auckland Council

Pakiri beach, just a two hour drive from Auckland, is home to beautiful sand dunes, precious ecosystems and the most endangered endemic bird species in New Zealand.

McCallum Bros Limited has lodged two resource consent applications with Auckland council to mine sand off-shore from Pakiri- both in-shore and mid-shore. 

The sand around this area has been mined for more than 70 years, and locals say it is having disastrous effects on both marine ecosystems and endangered bird species such as the dotterel and the fairy tern.

If successful, these two consent applications are likely to have adverse effects on a number of indigenous taxa that are already considered ‘at risk’ or ‘threatened’ in the NZ threat classification system. Especially vulnerable is the New Zealand Fairy Tern, New Zealand’s rarest indigenous bird. Approximately 40 birds survive between Whāngarei to the North and Auckland to the South - and many of them live and nest in the Pakiri beach area. 

There is significant evidence to suggest that sand dredging at Pakiri could reduce food availability for the NZ Fairy Tern, by disturbing marine ecosystems in the area. 

The NZ Fairy Tern - the rarest bird species in NZ.

The Assessments of Ecological Effects (AEEs) provided by the applicant are deficient in a number of respects. Despite long-term involvement at the site, McCallum Bros Limited have not provided any long-term monitoring data on the effects of its operations on the local marine and coastal ecology. Furthermore, they present limited evidence on sand-dredging impacts on fish and marine food webs. 

For activities within the coastal environment, Auckland Council is legally obligated to apply a precautionary approach to its decision making. The precautionary approach is expressed as policy in the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS), which includes the direction to: “Adopt a precautionary approach towards proposed activities whose effects on the coastal environment are uncertain, unknown, or little understood, but potentially significantly adverse”. 

In ELI’s view, in light of the deficiencies in the application information, and the clear direction for a precautionary approach, the only decision open to Auckland Council is to decline the application - or at a minimum pause processing of the application immediately - until further information on ecological effects are made available.