Live: Twofold Bay trawler sinks off the Napier coast
A boat has filled with water and sunk to the seabed in just 10 minutes off the Napier coast - but don’t worry, it’s deliberate.
Decommissioned 60-year-old trawler Twofold Bay left the Napier inner harbour for the last time this morning, to be sunk for use as an artificial reef and diving site.
The stripped vessel was towed from its moorings at West Quay, leaving at 7am, pausing briefly for karanga out from the entrance.
Within the hour it was being secured to buoys off the coast from Te Karaka, formerly known as Perfume Point.
The sinking started at 1pm, with a large number of craft in the area for what organisers believe is the first sinking of its type on the New Zealand coast, of a fishing trawler specifically for the purpose.
LegaSea Hawke’s Bay chairman John Stewart said earlier it wasn’t clear how long it would take for the craft to be submerged, but it would come to rest in just 17 metres of water. It turned out it took just 10 minutes.
Decommissioned trawler the Twofold Bay paused on its way under tow to a final resting place, to be sunken off the coast at Ahuriri. Photo / Doug Laing
Using the world’s foremost guidelines, the London Protocol, it’s been a three-year project, getting the required resource consents, consulting with iwi, and pouring-in hundreds of volunteer hours stripping the boat to comply with conditions for environmental protection and safe diving.
Sandra Mauger, who called karanga from the rocks at the point – farewelling the Twofold Bay from the port and welcoming the vessel to Pania - said she was amazed how well the project had gone, and that it was rewarded with the conditions on the morning, ideal for the historic moment.
It had been delayed just 24 hours, in a five-day window dictated by tides, which meant that if conditions had not suited, the mission would have been postponed to mid-July.
Sandra Mauger calls to Twofold Bay from the rocks at Te Karaka, Ahuriri, sending the decommissioned trawler on the way to the resting place as an artificial reef and dive site. Photo / Doug Laing.
Twofold Bay with its support craft (left) with Mahia in the distance as the decommissioned trawler is moored to buoys in readiness for the sinking. Photo / Doug Laing
A 100-metre exclusion zone was around the sinking site, and a rāhui laid by kaumatua Matiu Eru from on board one of the support craft is expected to be in place for some months until the site is deemed safe.
As part of the conditions, divers will inspect the hull at its resting place from time to time for a report assessing how it has settled on the seabed.
The Twofold Bay is prepped before the sinking begins. Photo / Rafaella Melo
The vessel, built and launched in Australia in the 1960s, and named after a bay on the south coast of New South Wales, was gifted for the purpose by Napier businessman Rodney Green and the project supported by businesses, volunteers, mana whenua, Hawkes Bay Sports Fishing Club, freedom divers, Coastguard Hawke’s Bay, the Harbour Master, Napier Port, and commercial fishers.
Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter, based in Napier and with 53 years fiull-time experience in journalism, covering news, events and issues throughout the region, including the fishing industry.
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