NZ King Salmon is proposing the creation of nine more salmon
farms in the Marlborough Sounds. Submissions are currently being heard by a Board of Inquiry set up by the
Environmental Protection Authority. Hearings could take up to eight weeks. Opinion is divided on this. Some people are opposed. They really care
about the possible effects on the environment like pollution of the water and visual pollution.
In fact 40 boats took part in a protest flotilla on Saturday. This was covered
by TV One and print media.
Earlier this year I
went on a Dolphin Watch tour with visiting relatives. We called into Ruakaka
Bay to view the salmon farm. It seemed
like a great enterprise but there was only one farm. The seals basking in the sun looked happy. Then
we went on to Motuara Island, a bird sanctuary and of course the place where
Captain James Cook claimed sovereignty. I dignified this inlet with the name of Queen
Charlottes Sound [Now Queen Charlotte Sound], and took formal possession of it and the adjacent lands in the name and
for the use of his Majesty. As Cook
hadn’t yet circumnavigated New Zealand he was probably unsure of exactly what
land area he was claiming in the name of King George III.
With my visitors I
climbed up to the top of the viewing platform on Motuara Island where you can
get a panoramic view of the places mentioned by Cook. On a clear day you can see Te-Ika-a-Maui, the North Island. I read somewhere that ‘the fish of Maui’ could
also have been a reference to the tail of the constellation, Scorpio, which resembles
a fish hook. The legendary Maui and other Polynesian
explorers might have used this as a navigational tool to find New Zealand.
I am currently
working on a book outlining Cook’s time in the outer Marlborough Sounds. He spent over 100 days at Ship Cove in the
1770s and it became his favourite anchorage to allow his men to rest, and to repair
and provision the ships. In his Journal entries he describes the landscape, the
weather, daily life and makes detailed observations of resident Maori.
The main purpose of my book is to enable visitors to stand on the beach at Ship Cove or on the summit of Motuara Island
or on the deck of a Cruise ship and read in Cook’s words what he thought, the problems he faced. I am adapting the text for the modern reader. The
way technology is going I think this will make a great ebook. It will be so much
easier for the reader with digital referencing rather than having masses of
footnotes or endnotes. There could even
be a children’s version with a treasure map.
Like the great
scholar and historian John Beaglehole said:
It is I think worthwhile sometimes to stand
upon the spot where a great man stood and to look upon things – hills and the
sea – that he looked upon ... We can see him perhaps, walking up this beach,
and hear the voices of his men, we can take pride in reflecting that it was
through him that our history became part of the history of the world.
Getting back to the
proposed salmon farms it is essential to balance the economic benefit to the Marlborough/Nelson
region like the creation of new jobs (which the government is keen on), with the long-term environmental
effects. What would Cook have thought about it? With the use of a seine net and
the help of skilled Maori fishermen he was able to easily catch enough fish to feed
the entire ships’ company.
Who can foresee the future? What kind of legacy are we going
to leave for generations to come? Let’s
hope the Board's decision is the right one.
