Council Staff Continue To Assist In The Bay Of Plenty

Half a dozen Marlborough District Council staff continue to play key roles in the wake of the Rena oil spill emergency in the Bay of Plenty.

One of the most highly qualified emergency response personnel Maritime New Zealand can call on, Marlborough harbourmaster Captain Alex Van Wijngaarden, has been putting in long hours as on-scene commander since the ship foundered.

Council water scientist Peter Hamill is coordinating all the Shoreline Clean-up Assessment teams for the Bay of Plenty beaches, while his colleague Peter Davidson is leading one of these teams in the field. Other staff have worked on beach clean-up and wildlife protection.

Council chief executive Andrew Besley says it’s testimony to the expertise held within the Marlborough District Council team that staff here were amongst the first to be seconded to help manage the emergency response. “It has been a long and arduous role for them but they are gaining valuable practical experience that will be enormously valuable to use in the event of something similar happening off our coastline,” he said.