Whakatāne harbour is in danger of losing the 18 moorings at Whakatāne Yacht Club if the district council doesn’t do its part to dredge the channel leading to the club’s marina.

Boats are grounding at each low tide and club captain Jamie Brunsden said his boat, One Love, could be taken out of the marina only two hours either side of high tide due to silt build-up.

“We’ve had quite a few members move their boats to Tauranga because of this issue,” he said.

At low tide recently, his boat, alongside others moored at the marina, was sitting several centimetres out of the water, but he said during extra-low tides the water could be 400-600mm lower.

The club usually dredges silt from around its marina poles about every four years, paid for out of berth holders’ maintenance fees, but is now unable to do so because the barge they hire to do this cannot access the site.

The marina was last dredged in May 2020.

Club members would be be presenting a submission to a Whakatāne District Council meeting today requesting the council dredge a 200m length of navigable channel between Otuawhaki (Green Wharf) and the club.

The club’s submission says a dredging operation scheduled for November last year had to be cancelled because there was insufficient depth in the adjacent navigation channel for the dredging plant to access the facility.

Whakatāne Yacht Club captain Jamie Brunsden says his yacht, One Love, can be taken out of the harbour only two hours either side of high tide. Photo / LDR

The club said the marina was built in 1997, based on assurances that channel access would be maintained.

The council had carried out dredging of the channel over the past 20 years and since 2011, the council and club had paid one contractor to carry out the work concurrently whenever possible, resulting in considerable cost savings to both.

The yacht club did not hold resource consent for navigational dredging, but the council did.

Brunsden said the Whakatāne Harbour Fund was intended to cover costs of keeping the harbour navigable.

“We should use the harbour fund for harbour expenses,” he said.

A Whakatāne District Council spokesperson said it was yet to make any decision about the dredging.

“Staff are currently reviewing the Ports Operational Plan, including the financial implications of the plan. They will be presenting it to council next year.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.