Rodney reef diver images highlight Rena reef decimation

Tuesday, 27 September 2016

Mahurangi West photographer Darryl Torcklers images of his time photographing on the Astrolabe Reef have helped to highlight the plight of the reef after restrictions were lifted.

There wasn't a lot to see at the Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga when he dived there in the mid 1990s so Mahurangi West resident and underwater photographer Darryl Torckler never went back. Until he was contracted to photograph the removal of the wrecked Rena off the reef.

His stunning images from the salvage effort over four years, were at the fore at the Hauraki Gulf Marine Forum earlier this month to illustrate the rebuild of abundance on the reef once boats had been excluded.

The Rena disaster saw the container ship and cargo vessel stuck fast on the reef in October 2011 while it took a shortcut to get to the Port of Tauranga.

Over the next three years Torckler was one of just a few people who had were able to dive in the exclusion zone as he used GPS to get images of the wreckage and debris field for the ship owners' insurers to present to the Environment Court.

Twelve nautical miles from Tauranga Harbour the reef is really exposed to the elements, he said. When the wind got above 15 knots, work stopped on the salvage. It could be a four to six week wait before he got the calm weather and clear water he needed to get in the water and photograph.

The regeneration of the Astrolabe Reef was the one silver lining of the Rena disaster.

With an exclusion zone placed around the ship so salvaging could take place, the reef effectively became a marine reserve and sea life could thrive without the usual pressures of fishing.

But that protection effectively stopped in April 2016, in spite of an urgent request by the Motiti Rohe Moana Trust, for a two year temporary closure of the reef to all fishing.

There is little left to protect now, Motiti Rohe Moana Trust spokesman TA Sayers told the Hauraki Gulf Marine Forum audience.

Not having seem the reef since December last year Torckler says he is sad to hear of its demise.

The big increase in sea life was very obvious as time went by, he says.

'I saw the largest schools of kahawai I've ever seen.'

The Ministry of Primary Industries has still to make a decision on the temporary closure though submissions on it closed in March.

Also at the seminar and involved with the Trusts efforts to establish a no-take zone in the Bay of Plenty along with a marine spatial plan was Warkworth resident Dr Roger Grace.

The whole process has been extremely frustrating the marine biologist and marine reserve expert says with a silver lining opportunity squandered.

Many volunteers and Department of Conservation staff from Rodney and the Hibiscus Coast were involved with wildlife rescue and the beach clean up after the wreck.