In the Waiariki Area, CPPS operates community work in Rotorua, Tauranga, Mt Maunganui, Matata, Edgecumbe, Thornton, Kawerau, Taneatua, Ruatoki, Whakatane, Ohope, Waimana, Nukuhou, Kutarere, Waiotahi, Opotiki, Torere, Hawai. Find contact details for the Waiariki Area.
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Excerpt from Community Works Issue 6, February 2006 |
Community Work offenders found themselves on a roll when the creators of the country’s first artificial surf reef called on them to help.
A supervised team of Community Work offenders (pictured) spent a day helping to prepare the giant high-tech sandbags that will form the reef 250m off Mount Maunganui’s Main Beach.
Mount Reef Trust executive officer David Neilson says the work party tackled the job at Sulphur Point, Otumoetai late last year.
“We had them rolling out the 2 tonne bags, tying them to the massive webbing lattice, then securing them all ‘shut’ with webbing straps. Over 1000 tags and 500 webbing points had to be hand tied to keep the bags in position on the seabed. The guys made a huge difference and made short work of the lengthy job,” says David.
The biggest bag is 50m long and 3.5m high. The whole reef, when filled with 6500 cubic metres of sand, will be a perfect A frame shaped reef creating hollow barrelling waves for surfers, and providing a new home for millions of marine organisms and fish.
The Trust has had some local volunteers helping with the project but we needed reliable numbers to help with the bag preparation, says David.
“The offenders have done a great job. They came here to work, got stuck in and really seemed to enjoy it. They said it was one of the best jobs they’d been on.”
Bad weather delayed construction of the million dollar reef, which has been funded by donations and private sponsors, but the Trust hopes to have the reef installed before the end of summer.
The reef’s designed to provide a consistent wave, instead of the constantly changing surf created by the existing sand banks. The reef will also be extensively monitored for its performance in terms of surfing wave quality, biological enhancement and socio-economic impacts. See www.mountreef.co.nz for further details on the project.