The variable oystercatcher is at-risk from the impacts of vehicles driving on the region's beaches. Photo: Supplied / Forest and Bird
Tasman District Council is exploring options on how to best limit the damage caused by motor vehicles to native seabird populations along the region's beaches.
A report presented to elected members last week said the "issue of vehicles on beaches has consistently been raised by the public and community groups for the past 20 years" with complaints covering almost every beach in the region that was accessible by vehicle.
The problem was not unique to Tasman either. Marlborough District Council recently passed a bylaw that banned vehicles from the region's east coast except for a 9-kilometre stretch during the day.
David Melville, a local ornithologist and member of Birds New Zealand, said the region was home to a number of threatened birds, like the variable oystercatcher, the bar-tailed godwit, and the banded dotterel.
"Disturbances by vehicles on beaches can cause nesting birds to desert, as well as potentially crushing eggs and chicks," he said.
In January, quad bikes damaged a wetland enhancement project in the Waimea Estuary that aimed to provide a habitat for the critically endangered matuku, or Australasian bitter.
And Melville said there were occasionally problems on the Motueka Sandspit, an internationally important site for roosting shorebirds.
"Although it is designated as a scenic reserve, vehicles occasionally do drive down there," he said.
Motor vehicles have been disturbing native seabirds and crushing nests in Golden Bay. Photo: Supplied / Forest and Bird
"Usually quad bikes, people going fishing; but once a car."
He also acknowledged the council's efforts to discourage vehicles from accessing Kina Peninsula, near Tasman village, which was having a positive impact on nesting banded dotterels and variable oystercatchers, but said the threat posed to seabirds by vehicles was much more acute in Golden Bay than Tasman Bay.
Forest and Bird Golden Bay chairperson Cynthia McConville said the organisation has been advocating for a bylaw addressing the issue for four years.
She added this was the second summer in a row where vehicles have destroyed variable oystercatcher nests.
"It's tough, these birds are up against it," she said.
"We hold one-third of the global population in this region, so we have a moral and legal responsibility to protect them."
The council was exploring options to address the issue, such as installing physical barriers to limit vehicle beach access in problematic locations, continuing education campaigns throughout the district to change behaviours, or creating a bylaw on the issue.
However, there have been several instances of physical barriers being removed by residents in the past and there were doubts that continued education would have an impact.
"We've been trying education for four years," McConville said.
"I'm sorry it doesn't work."
She did not want a bylaw as expansive as what has been introduced in Marlborough and wanted just seven Golden Bay beaches protected from motor vehicles: the Motupipi Estuary and Rototai Beach, and the beaches at Onahau, Parawhakaoho, Collingwood, the Parapara Inlet, and Tomatea and Taupata Points.
Golden Bay Community Board member Grant Knowles echoed McConville's sentiments.
"We've educated people for years and years and years," he said.
"I'd rather see something enforced, and that's what I feel the majority of people in Golden Bay feel."
He thought limiting access to those specific sites raised by McConville would be a great place to begin.
"If we can only just get those ones for starters sorted out, I think some of the rest of them it won't matter so much."
Some councillors did express reservations about banning vehicles from beaches, however.
Deputy mayor Stuart Bryant acknowledged the need for seabirds to nest in peace, but said the issue had been divisive in Marlborough.
"There's also people's recreational needs and social needs. We need to address that," he said.
"It's divided communities, so it's somewhere where we'll need to tread carefully."
Kim Drummond, council's group manager of environmental assurance, highlighted that all options were still on the table and said staff were engaging with Marlborough District Council to learn how they approached their bylaw, lining up discussions with iwi - particularly Manawhenua ki Mohua - on the topic, and continuing to pursue education strategies.
"We're not advancing a silver bullet, but we are showing commitment in terms of a more holistic approach while recognising that right here and now there is a job to do."
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air