Cray fishers argue boat road plans a form of 'disaster relief'
Wednesday, 6 September 2017
A commercial fishing company is going to court to overturn a decision it says threatens its survival in the small Marlborough town of Ward.
Burkhart Fisheries has filed a notice of appeal in the Environment Court after its bid to form a road to a new launch site was shot down early last month.
The company, the biggest employer in the town, argues the Marlborough District Council failed to shoulder the responsibility of responding to the effects of the earthquake.
Its traditional launch site at Ward Beach was left unsuitable after seabed uplift from the 7.8-magnitude event raised parts of the coast by up to 3 metres.
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* Fishing proposal seeks to use public land, launch boats near scientific reserve**
To secure access to a new site, adjacent to the Chancet Rocks scientific reserve, the company applied for resource consent to form a 1.5-kilometre road.
However, in a decision released on August 4, the commissioners hearing the case declined consent, saying the road would have adverse environmental effects.
During the hearing, the company said not being able to launch its boats near Ward called into question the future of its processing factory in the town.
'[Burkhart Fisheries'] survival in Ward rests on the ability for fishing vessels to launch from Ward Beach,' the notice of appeal said.
'The council failed to adequately take into account adverse impacts on the Ward community in terms of employment opportunities if vessel-launching cannot continue at Ward Beach.'
Lawyer Quentin Davies, acting for the company, argued during the hearing that the relevant planning documents failed to account for the effects of the earthquake.
Davies also described the application as a form of disaster relief, arguing government legislation to fast-track earthquake repairs was not the only way to deal with the situation.
'We view this in another light,' said the commissioners in their August decision.
'We think it reinforces the idea that steps of the kind that Mr Davies urges us to take are, as it were, 'above our pay grade' - the province of legislative authorities rather than low-level quasi-judicial ones.
'What we cannot do is to use earthquake-related changes to justify a 'reading down' of relevant planning documents.'
The proposed road would have been formed on an existing paper road, and the commissioners said they had no legal power to impose restrictions on who could use it.
'At present, the Chancet Rocks area is protected by comparative remoteness and inaccessibility,' the decision document said.
'If enhanced public access - and, in particular, enhanced vehicular access - is available the adverse effects will be more profound.'
However, in their notice to appeal the company said the council had failed to consider the option that consent could have been granted subject to limiting public access on the road.
They also took issue with the commissioners highlighting alternatives, namely negotiating with the owners of Chancet Farm to use an existing road to access the launch site.
'There is no basis on which that alternative could be assessed or considered by the council,' the notice said.
Burkhart Fisheries owner Dennis Burkhart said, through Davies, that the appeal was just part of the process.
'We are working on a number of options,' he said.
'We're working with central and local Government to try and get the operation back up and running,' Davies said last month.
'We're trying hard to keep jobs in Ward and to maintain a significant export earner not only for the Flaxbourne region but also for Marlborough and New Zealand.'