Abandoned vessels removed from canal

Local authority staff have removed two derelict boats which had long laid abandoned on the northern banks of Whangarei’s Waiarohia canal after concerns they could pose a risk to other vessels.

The two boats – a roughly 12-metre kauri-hulled vessel and an eight-metre wooden yacht hull – were removed by Northland Regional Council staff after the vessels were formally declared ‘wrecks’ and potential navigational hazards by Regional Harbourmaster Jim Lyle.

The declaration came recently after lengthy and unsuccessful attempts to locate the vessels’ owners – including posting notices on the boats themselves – following complaints from nearby Herekino St businesses.

Mr Lyle says the larger vessel had apparently sat abandoned for several years, while the other had arrived within the past 12 months.

Both were in extremely poor condition and council staff shared local business owners’ concerns that the unsightly boats could break free the longer they were left and pose an environmental hazard and/or navigational risk to other craft in the canal/upper harbour.

Several council staff had spent about five hours removing the vessels; cutting the boats into smaller sections for ease of handling, before the pieces were lifted onto trucks and taken to the Whangarei District Council’s Puwera landfill for disposal.

Mr Lyle says the council would attempt to recover the several hundred dollars worth of labour and other costs involved from the boats’ owners if they were ever identified.

He says the council typically removes several abandoned vessels from around Northland each year. Depending on where they are – and the state they are in – removing them can be quite time-consuming and costly especially if they involved larger boats which had sunk at a mooring.

Meanwhile, he says two other vessels – one which had been regularly submerged at high tide – were removed recently by their owners from jetties on the opposite side of the Waiarohia canal.

Mr Lyle says those vessels – a roughly eight-metre launch and a 12-metre yacht – had also had removal notices attached to them by council staff, after concerns they too could become a navigational/environmental hazard.

Council staff would continue to monitor the canal – and other coastal areas – for potential hazards such vessels could create. However, anyone with concerns about such craft should contact either the council’s maritime staff on (0800) 002 004 or the council’s 24/7 environmental hotline (0800) 504 639.