simonsi

Hmmm, well try to imagine your customers disappearing for a period through no fault of your own and see how happy and fulfilled that makes you feel.

MANY jobs in many industries are seasonal. I expect summer bookings for that area are down already as people are cautious and might just not wan to take the risk, so book elsewhere.

Same with fishing, same with all those industries that just rely on people being in a certain area in certain numbers, you know food retailing, travel, you name it.

Maybe even grouting - after all less money around from all those businesses not doing as well might lead to less bathroom renovations being carried out.

carpman

'Tis funny you should say that...Here in arty crafty Nelson people have been doing something called 'yarn-bombing' where they replaced the veggies in a grocery store with knitted ones...Plus they cover anything and everything with knitting and crochet. Now if only I could knit...

But, back on topic...This oil spill is a flippin' tragedy for all the wildlife as well as the local communities :0( Just awful.

Mrs Carpman

old dragon

It's understandable that if you don't live here, the saturation on TV and in the papers might be getting on your nerves - but it's so much more than playing on the beach.

I was at the meeting last night and I'm glad I went, I found it informative and I have a better understanding of why they couldn't get the oil off quickly - however, I'm still worried about the long term impact on the area and us in terms of health.

Volunteers were throwing up after cleaning up and everyone who helped clean it up in the early days got sick. That's a quote from someone who was interviewed on TV so I can't post a link to a story.

When the wind changes direction the smell is very strong and we have to keep the windows closed, so are we all fine and well?? Is it just the unpleasantness of the smell we have to contend with - in which case it's no problem, or are there long term implications to breathing in the fumes over a longer period of time.

Business is suffering already with bookings down and tourists cancelling. Lots of small operations have just been keeping body and soul together through the recession and winter - this is the make or break season for many of them.

The boats can't get into the water, so the charters are losing thousands a week, whilst still paying their overheads. Lots of them are small operations so when the money runs out the staff will have to go. The commercial fishermen are losing 10s of thousands a week. There are the retail outlets relying on surf/fishing etc

This is an expensive place to live, but don't confuse that with places like Auckland where the wages are high. 80 % of our friends here are kiwis, and just normal working people, and it's not called $10 Tauranga for nothing. We can't afford for our local economy to take a hit like this. We already pay high rates, building consents etc. We need the money to flow in from the tourists and weekenders.

For those of us robbing peter to pay paul, the ocean was a pretty cool way of topping up the larder. We were heading into snapper season in a few months - with the high cost of living locally and the low wages here - you shouldn't under estimate how much a lot of families rely on the sea food to supplement the larder.

Am Loolah

Thank you old dragon, my sentiments and thoughts too.

It would be ridiculous to suggest this won't have a financial impact on the region in terms of lost revenue. What do you think people come flocking to the area for? The beach perhaps? The surf? So surf shops, surf schools, kite surfing schools, paddle board, kayak and dinghy hire, charter boats, dolphin watching, diving schools - none will suffer? Beach cafes and restaurants adjacent to the oil smeared beach (which the public are banned from and are awash with crap oh and smell toxic) will not be effected? Families of fishermen and trawlers, assuming they could get their boats out without having oil stuck to them, will find containers bobbing around in the ocean and dead carcasses, any fish? Doubtful. But yes, bound to all be ok in a couple of months ...

ExKiwilass

Just dropping in here ...a contractor ruptured an oil pipeline in my neighbourhood a few years ago, causing oil to spill all over the homes etc of the neighbourhood and into the Burrard Inlet. What Old Dragon is saying is true - the smell was very strong and it's still not known what the full health effects on the people that lived there will be. They couldn't live in their homes for months. Luckily we lived up the hill from it but you could still smell it from that far away - it was so strong.

This disaster has been quite prominent in the news here - unusually for a story about NZ. It will definitely effect people's perceptions of NZ as a destination. Just saying.

Charismatic

I wouldn’t be surprised if the volatile components are bad for you, especially prolonged exposure. That’s why those people who spray the road with tar are forever getting cancer because they are exposed to aerosolized carcinogens for long periods.

They don’t tell the people doing the work this, obviously or they would demand better protective equipment and more pay.

chocolate cake

Totally agree with your posts on the last page, a pretty heartless response. The effects of this ain't minimal, there's already effects on jobs, and tourism in the area as it approaches the main season. There aren't many going to be surfing anytime soon, the effect on wildlife depressing too. Sure over time it will improve, but that's no great comfort at the moment.

Charismatic

$3.5m so far "...oil clean-up could run into the tens of millions of dollars".

So...where do we send the bill? Will it be you the taxpayer or will it be the people profiting from cheap shipping?

Bo-Jangles

So who do you think is profiting from the cheap shipping, are they not NZ taxpayers also?

Charismatic

Using foreign crews and a vessel registered in Liberia? A company in South Africa.

chocolate cake

It's not unique to NZ, it happens the world over.

simonsi

If shipping costs more through more expensive crews, different fuels etc etc then the users of the shipping pay, i.e. New Zealanders as NZ is very reliant on sea-borne imports.

Charismatic

Maximum fine is pittiful compared to the cleanup cost.

simonsi

That fine is to act as a deterrence against bad practice and small-scale spills in normal ship operations, it clearly isn't intended to deter captains from running onto a reef at full speed, nor is it intended to cover the clean-up costs, there are mandatory insurance requirements for that, the line in this case are being quoted as having $1B USB pollution clean-up cover.

Hopefully that will cover the $ cost of cleaning up, although if a rare bird species is wiped out nothing can replace that.

I expect the criminal charges may dissuade future captains from whatever sloppy practice allowed the ship to run aground in the first place.

Charismatic

Risk of breaking up.