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Picton aquarium staff stage sit-in to protest brutal takeover of building Newshub 12 hrs ago
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Picton s aquarium has been ordered to close but its staff aren t going quietly, staging a sit-in to stop the building being taken over.
EcoWorld director John Reuhman says Port Marlborough will take over the building s lease from midnight on Thursday.
EcoWorld staff and members of the public plan to occupy EcoWorld’s building in a last-ditch attempt to save the aquarium, the animals and the jobs of its six employees. We are going to do an occupation to try to save it all. It s a crazy situation, says Rheuman.
Despite Port Marlborough offer to help EcoWorld clear out the building, Reuhman said the terms were “unreasonable”. Reuhman claimed he had filed proceeds in the High Court last Friday, and that EcoWorld should not be made to leave the building until a judge had addressed the proceedings. It followed from last week, when Reuhman and his team protested outside the Local Democracy Conference held in Blenheim.
BRYA INGRAM/STUFF
EcoWorld Aquarium & Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre manager Janelle White, left, and John Reuhman pictured outside the foreshore aquarium. “What we were delighted by was the response from the delegates outside of the ASB [theatre].”
had some space. But combined there was not enough spaces for the popular race. “This is one of the downsides of the increase in popularity of boating, with berths and moorings being snapped up,” Grigg said. Breaking the news of the Wine Race s cancellation to long-time sponsor WineWorks fell to Boating Club Development Officer David Hancock. “To have to pass on the decision to cancel an event which has so much potential is devastating,” Hancock said, but the increase in boat ownership was “a good problem to have for the boating industry”. The club was heading in a different direction he said, and looking at developing and growing other events.
In his first interview since the announcement, Port Marlborough chief executive Rhys Welbourn said the port was “incredibly disappointed” that EcoWorld director John Reuhman was using the animals as “pawns in his game”. The port had been told by mana whenua, the Department of Conservation, and the Zoo and Aquarium Association that the aquarium could be cleared without its animals being euthanised. The creatures could be released or rehomed. “The future for the animals is a decision for EcoWorld, but we are working with the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAA) to assist with solutions for the re-homing or release of the animals where required,” Welbourn said.