12/04/2021
Watch: Karen Saunders spoke to The AM Show on Monday about the marina development. Credits: Image - HUHANZ, Protect Kennedy Point; Video - The AM Show
Protesters have revealed their unease and disappointment as workers arrive to begin developing Waiheke Island s controversial Kennedy Point marina.
Some locals, iwi and environmental activists have been battling to stop the marina for years, including taking an appeal to the High Court.
There are concerns the development will damage marine ecosystems and environmental quality, destroy penguin habitats and casue disruption to those living in the area.
However the marina is still going ahead, with work expected to begin this week.
Thomas Greve/Supplied The Waiheke community was mobilised on Monday morning by calls to protect the kororā. Emily Māia Weiss (Ngāti Pāoa) is one of the occupiers who has been at Kennedy Point full-time for more than a month. When workers arrived by boat on Monday morning, kayakers paddled out in Pūtiki Bay to get between the barge and the breakwater, while between 30 and 40 people gathered on the rocks “talking, having our breakfast”. “It felt like the first time they had seen the power of the people who will come to protect the penguins,” she said.
Penguin habitat on Waiheke Island could be destroyed for marina plans
10 Apr, 2021 04:56 AM
3 minutes to read
Waiheke Island locals fear for the future of a penguin colony which will need to go in the face of a controversial marina development. Photo / File
Waiheke Island locals fear for the future of a penguin colony which will need to go in the face of a controversial marina development. Photo / File
NZ Herald
Fears the home of a little blue penguin colony on Waiheke Island could be a victim of a controversial development have infuriated some island locals.
It comes after a fight against marine developers, with mana whenua iwi Ngāti Pāoa who have been camping at the site, to oppose Tony Mair s 186-berth marina proposal for Putiki Bay Kennedy Point.