Reason prevails on Council’s proposed vehicle access on beaches bylaw

On 20 June 2022, Fish Mainland made a submission on the Clutha District Council’s proposed Vehicles on Beaches Bylaw. The bylaw was proposed by Council to address two main issues: the effect of vehicles on public safety and enjoyment of beaches, and adverse effects to the values of the coastal environment.

Councils throughout the country are grappling with these same issues. Fish Mainland is pleased with the recently announced decisions by the Clutha District Council. We consider the Council’s decisions address the issues without unnecessarily restricting public access to beaches.

We hope these decisions will help guide other Councils’ decision-making processes. We wrote to the Council to thank them for their well-informed, sensible decisions and for the opportunity to participate in the bylaw process.

Regarding the Clutha District Council’s proposed bylaw, a wide range of views were expressed through submissions on five options that ranged from ‘Do not adopt a bylaw’ to ‘Prohibit vehicles on all beaches’.

Fish Mainland’s Southland Director, Alan Key, spoke at the public hearing on the proposed bylaw. The Council summarised Mr Key’s statements as follows:

·       Lives in Gore. One of the original members that started Fiordland Marine Guardians.

·       Stressed the need to be very careful about what you do, every action has a reaction.

·       Recreational fishermen are constantly losing their rights, access is very important and often you need a vehicle to carry dive gear, fishing gear etc.

·       Not everyone accesses the beach for the wrong reason, some are there cleaning up the beaches.

·       Look very carefully at speed and install signage that explains why there is a speed limit.

·       Roads and beaches have the same speed limits – need to gazette this if you want to be able to control it.

·       If you deny people access to the beach you are splitting groups against each other.

·       Go gently, do it right and make sure you have the resources to do this.

• In favour of bylaw if its managed right.

After deliberations during the 15 September meeting, the Council decided to adopt a bylaw with the following rules:

• People driving on beaches are required to do so in a way that does not threaten the safety of people, plants or native animals.

• Vehicles are not allowed on sand dunes, except to access the beach.

·       Vehicles are not allowed to drive along the beach above the high-water mark, except in emergencies.

The adopted bylaw does not include any vehicle prohibited areas (safe zones). However, it allows for safe zones to be created by Council resolution following appropriate monitoring and consultation. Monitoring may include effectiveness of existing bylaw provisions and the impacts of vehicles on human safety, wildlife and ecosystems.

The bylaw will become effective from 1 January 2023. This will be just one tool to help manage the impacts of vehicles on beaches. The Clutha District Council will work with stakeholders and may use education programmes and signs to raise awareness of these rules.

Soon more information about vehicles on beaches will be available on the Clutha District Council’s website Beaches - Clutha District Council (cluthadc.govt.nz)

Fish Mainland’s 20 June submission in full is as follows:

Submission: Proposed Vehicles on Beaches Bylaw

Introduction

Fish Mainland is a not-for-profit incorporated society with charitable status whose purpose is to coordinate and assist the South Island marine fishing community in restoring and sustaining fisheries resources for the benefit of all who fish in South Island waters.

In so doing, we aim to work collaboratively with government, tangata whenua and others to bring about the best public outcomes, which often involve public access to the marine environment. 

Fish Mainland is a member-based organisation. The members have democratic control over the organisation through the power to nominate, elect and remove Regional Directors of the Board. Also, the South Island Mandated Iwi Organisations can appoint and remove two other Directors. The Board appoints more Directors and an independent Chair of the Board.

Elected and appointed Directors of the Board demonstrate Fish Mainland's mandate to represent South Island recreational fishers Recreational Fishing South Island NZ - Fish Mainland

Submission

The Clutha District Council states that the proposed vehicles on beaches bylaw intends to address two main issues, the effect of vehicles on public safety and the enjoyment of beaches, and the adverse effects to the environmental values of the coastal environment.

The proposed bylaw would apply to eight beaches where vehicle access would be prohibited except for valid reasons, which include:

1. In case of emergency, and for emergency vehicles

2. With written permission of Council

3. To launch or retrieve a boat, and

4. Where a property can only be accessed via the beach.

Fish Mainland is respectful of the public concerns expressed about the adverse effects of vehicle access to beaches in the Clutha District.

Fish Mainland supports the need to protect vulnerable marine mammals, seabirds, and biodiversity values within the Clutha coastal environment. We are also strongly supportive of a safe environment for all beach users.

However, we consider the proposed bylaw (option 3), as currently stated, does not provide a workable solution that balances the needs and preferences of all beach users in a compatible way, as intended by Mayor Bryan Cadogan. The reasons are as follows:

First, access to fisheries resources has increasingly become a major concern of all who fish, namely recreational, customary and commercial fishers. And many of the areas fished in the Clutha District can only be accessed by way of beaches.

The PAUAMAC5 submission, dated 7 June 2022, clearly stipulates the access problems that the proposed bylaw would cause for commercial paua fishers. We support that submission entirely, particularly its assertion that the proposed bylaw is a disproportionate response to the valid public concerns, as the bylaw does not target where there are reasons for concerns (e.g., vulnerable marine mammals, birds, etc.). Instead, the proposed bylaw would ban vehicles fully within the named beaches, except for the seemingly four valid reasons for vehicle beach access, as noted above.

Second, we also support the PAUAMAC5 submission’s statements regarding the need to launch boats from safe, suitable launching sites, not necessarily where the vehicle follows the most direct route from the beach access point to the water. Any requirement to launch and retrieve vessels from the closest point rather than the safest point would be contrary to the bylaw’s public health and safety purpose.

Furthermore, we support PAUAMAC5 submission in stating how unsafe, impractical, and counter-productive it would be to require a vehicle and trailer to be removed from the beach immediately upon retrieval or launching of the boat. In effect, the bylaw would create avoidable risk in a boat being kept offshore while the driver parks or retrieves the vehicle; it would also compound potential adverse effects on the environment by essentially doubling the traffic needed to launch and retrieve a boat.

We highlight the concerns raised by the PAUAMAC5 submission, as they apply equally to recreational and customary fishers who fish from boats.

Third, the proposed bylaw fails to accommodate those fishers and divers who do not use boats. There are numerous fishers who fish along local beaches with rod and reel, kontiki and scuba gear. Their fishing and diving areas are often located several kilometres from the closest beach access point.

Those who do not fish from a boat cannot be expected to carry their fishing gear from a vehicle parked along the road to the fishing or diving areas several kilometres away.

Fourth, those who fish or dive without a boat, as do other members of the public, often haul away beach-cast debris when travelling along beaches. The proposed bylaw would prohibit them from providing this public service, unless they are prepared to carry the debris back to their vehicles, which is often simply impractical due to the weight and size of the debris and the distance involved.

Fish Mainland concludes the proposed bylaw, as currently stated, is an unworkable solution; it requires a serious re-think with the input by all interests.

We consider the least intrusive workable solution is already outlined in the proposed bylaw. That is, the proposed 30/kmph speed restriction on beaches. This restriction alone would have the most desired impact on problems caused by poor driving behaviour – reckless driving on beaches and using the beach as a racetrack.

We would also support selectively restricting driving through dunes and other ecological systems where there is a need to protect vulnerable marine mammals, seabirds, and biodiversity values. Such restrictions, along with any barriers, should be combined with education measures, signage, and improved coordination with other agencies (option 2).

Thank you for the opportunity to provide input into this important and significant regional issue. Fish Mainland wishes to be heard at the hearings.

Yours sincerely,

James Crossland

Chair of the Board