Regional council removing illegal moorings

Northland Regional Council (NRC) maritime staff have begun removing illegal moorings as part of an ongoing programme to update mooring identity tags.

Ian Niblock, the Council’s Regional Harbourmaster / Maritime Senior Programme Manager, says Council Maritime staff are currently checking the position – and updating the identity tags – of the roughly 3000 registered moorings in the region.

As part of this regular work, the Council has also been taking the opportunity to remove illegal moorings as it encounters them. Over the past several weeks, seven moorings – two from the Bay of Islands and five in Whangarei Harbour – have been lifted and removed.

Mr Niblock says there are about 3000 legal moorings registered with the Regional Council, with an estimated 100 illegal moorings – most for smaller vessels - dotted around the region.

“People have had ample opportunity over a number of years to ensure their moorings are legal and – if not already allowed for under Council rules as a ‘permitted activity’ - that those moorings have a current licence.”

He says legal issues aside, illegal moorings can cause problems for other water users because they may be in an inappropriate place, constructed of unsuitable or inadequate materials and – unlike legal moorings – are not subject to regular inspection.

“Over the years, we’ve encountered illegal moorings that have consisted of nothing more than a couple of large soft drink bottles filled with sand, through to old engine blocks and slabs of concrete with a length of chain wrapped around them.”

Mr Niblock says the Council will not be removing moorings whose owners have already applied to the NRC to legalise them.