Kennedy Point Marina has appointed ecological consultant Dr Leigh Bull, pictured, to review the company’s plans for protecting kororā/little blue penguins at the marina construction site.
“My role in the coming weeks will be to work with the Kennedy Point Marina team to ensure best practice is achieved in relation to little blue penguin management. This will go further than the requirements of the resource consent and will look at opportunities to create additional habitat to protect and allow them to thrive long-term at Kennedy Point.”
News of the review comes after a meeting was held on Wednesday 14 April between the developer and interested groups. The meeting was initiated by Forest and Bird’s Auckland regional manager Lissy Fehnker-Heather – although there was initial confusion around who should be at the meeting.
Miss Fehnker-Heather says the groups that went put forward their concerns about kororā and the marina in general, and mana whenua voiced concerns around general engagement with them throughout the marina project development.
The meeting highlighted that mana whenua were not engaged with properly and that groups were not satisfied with the way the Department of Conservation has handled things, Miss Fehnker- Heather says.
“People questioned why the developer does not require a wildlife permit and DoC stands firm that they do not,” she says. “Overall it was a really frank discussion, really robust, and it was a good first step to be able to have all the interested parties in the room.”
•Erin Johnson
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