The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is set to trial methods for removing mulch that is produced through the mechanical removal of mangroves in the Tauranga Harbour. The council is due to continue its machine removal this week and the first trial collecting the mulch will use the machine that has been removing sea lettuce within the harbour.

The mechanical mangrove clearer.

The council is also exploring with Royal Forest and Bird and estuary care group representatives other mulch removal options to trial.

This is part of the ongoing removal of this year under the council's resource consent.

A meeting was held last Friday between representatives of Forest and Bird, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and some estuary care groups to discuss specific concerns that Forest and Bird had raised about the disposal of the mechanically-removed mangrove mulch.

Forest and Bird raised concerns that mangrove mulch that had resulted from the mechanical removal was not flushing in some areas as quickly as they had hoped.

The council agreed that in some areas where there was limited tidal flow and a higher density of mangroves that these combined conditions had hampered the flushing of the mulch. The council did not anticipate this result when the programme started.

To address this concern, the council has agreed to carry out trials on ways of removing the mulch during the next stage of the mulching operations that are about to start.

Additionally, council has agreed to explore options for removing mulch in areas cleared last year to help speed up the process of re-establishing the historic sandflat habitats.

The council also agreed that in exploring options it would include both Forest and Bird and Estuary Care in discussions and is happy to look at options that either group brought forward that could be trialled.

The council also said that it will seek independent scientific monitoring of some of the areas to get more information on the condition of the estuaries that have been mulched.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Chairman John Cronin says the council will move forward with the remaining mechanical removal of mangroves during this year as allowed under the current resource consent.

'In undertaking this work, it will also allow us to trial various options and possibly find a solution to removing the mulch going forward, which will bring huge benefits to our community and help address Forest and Bird's concerns,” says John.

'In doing this, we will be looking at how we can speed up the recovery process including carrying out trials on removing mulch on already cleared sites and those consented areas yet to be cleared.

'We're willing to engage and work with the estuary care groups and Forest and Bird about options and they're welcome to observe and comment on these.”