News ~ Pānui

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is not a silver bullet and is far from perfect. But like any tool, says Chris Brennan from Moxi -   Farm Forest Services, if you understand what it can and cannot do, you can use it safely. Most farmers have heard enough about carbon credits to be wary of them. And fair enough. When carbon becomes the main driver of land use, whole farms can be seen planted into pine and decisions that do not reflect good farming practice. The question is: “

Over 2025, the Ōhiwa Headland Sanctuary Trust 's possum control operations have focused on the area south of the main headland area, the ‘buffer’ (400-ha) to halt the reinvasion of possums into our ‘core’ area (1500-ha). This buffer extends from where Ōhiwa Harbour Road goes over towards State Highway 2, also known as Carson’s hill, to the south. This graph shows the Trust’s possum catches since September 2021 when the project began efforts to eradicate possums from the Ōhiw

Shellfish poachers will be prosecuted for “stealing from our shared resource”, says Fisheries New Zealand Gisborne/Whakatāne district manager Jordan Cooper. The warning comes following action taken by fishery officers in the Eastern Bay of Plenty who have caught several people over summer with hundreds of green-lipped mussels, some of them taken from the closed area off the Ōhope Road boatramp ( New Zealand Herald, 13 January 2026 ). In November 2024, a two-year closure was p

It’s great to see the sun shining again (most days!), though many farmers in the Ōhiwa catchment are still dealing with the aftermath of the intense rainfall event that hit the Waiōtahe Valley and Ōhiwa catchments on 30 July. Despite the significant damage across a relatively localised area, the event didn’t make national headlines. However, it certainly occupied many local minds then and now. Rainfall data from the Regional Council’s gauge at Whakatāne River (Awahou) recorde

There are good news for those keen on jumping into Ōhiwa Harbour’s waters this summer. In early November the first of the weekly tests carried out over summer confirmed the water quality at the Ōhope boat ramp is ‘good’. This mirrors the great majority of the 113 samples carried out over the last five years. In 94 per cent of times the water quality was rated ‘good’, in only 3 per cent caution was advised and in 4 per cent of samples, all of which were taken in the high rainf

With summer nearly here locals and visitors to Ōhiwa Harbour are gearing up to set the net for flounder, collect pipi or catch a snapper. It is timely that a local advocate for our ocean’s resources has just been given not one but two major awards.   On 11 September, the winners of the New Zealand Seafood Sustainability and Innovation Awards 2025 were announced at Parliament, recognising the many contributions of fishers, marine farmers, community groups and researchers from

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has adopted new Navigation Safety Bylaws which change the rules for personal watercraft use within Ōhiwa harbour. These new rules came into effect in July. Under the new bylaw, the exclusion zone will be replaced with a 5-knot rule that will apply to all vessels for most parts of the harbour. Powered craft will be allowed across the harbour but all standard bylaws rules will apply, i.e. 5 knots within 200m of shore, 50m of a person or vesse

In January and February 2025 Ōhiwa Harbour was again part of a regular survey that assesses the cockle and pipi populations across 11 northern North Island sites,

Ōhope Spit Care Group and Halo Whakatāne planting day. For anyone who has not yet planted a tree this winter there is still an...