Pollen Island Marine Reserve

Forest and Bird, Volume 22, Issue 4, 1 November 1991, Page 19

Pollen Island Marine Reserve

| N 1989, the Society lodged an /_ application for a marine reserve at Pollen Island. This inner city estuarine wetland is a biological gem. It sits serenely in the upper Waitemata Harbour, a low shellbank flanked by saltmarsh, mangroves and tidal flats. Seven kilometres from downtown Auckland, this peaceful area is a haven for wildlife, a feeding ground for rare birds and the spawning grounds of snapper, flounder and mullet. The application has received the Minister of Conservation’s approval but the Auckland Regional Council have stalled the application. In its schizophrenic Regional Scheme, the Auckland Regional Council recognises Pollen Island as both an internationally important wetland that must be preserved and as a possible port site. The regional council have caved in to pressure from the port company by stalling the only proposal to protect this area in favour of the remote chance of Pollen Island becoming a container port. It is this latter possibility that has the Council worried that the port company will take legal action against them if they allow a marine reserve to proceed. In reality, Pollen Island is a most unlikely site for a port — it is an area of shallow water and mudflats, requiring extensive dredging, and the Auckland Harbour bridge blocks access for large container vessels.