Rena by the numbers Please note: some numbers are estimates and many of these numbers are subject to change Approximately 600–800 people in the oil spill response team,** including members of the Incident Command Centre (ICC) and people in the field undertaking beach clean-up and wildlife response. Around 300 staff managing the overall response from the ICC 140 National Oiled Wildlife Response Team personnel working on the response, including veterinarians,…

Swimmers and surfers in Mt Maunganui will head in for a dip today for the first time since oil spilt from container ship Rena. Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) has this morning allowed water access to the open section of beach between the Mt and Tay Street. The section of the beach was re-opened to the public on Friday, but restrictions on swimming remained in place until today. MNZ National On…

Stop-and-start efforts to pump oil from the stricken Rena were hit with another setback today when a booster pump brought into speed up the process short-circuited shortly after off-loading began at noon today. Maritime New Zealand salvage unit manager Bruce Anderson said the blown pump was flown out at about 2.30pm and a spare unit was being installed to clear the remaining 1260 tonnes onboard. The oil was being fed…

Dean Houghton admits the timing of the oil slick from the stricken Rena couldn’t be worse as he tries to sell his immense Papamoa Beach property. Mr Houghton’s home, which his real estate agent has advertised as a “lifestyle resort”, is a frisbee’s throw from the beach where crews of volunteers were last week cleaning up oil spilled from the cargo ship Rena after it crashed into the Astrolabe Reef…

Three three-man salvage teams have been airlifted onto the Rena to resume pumping operations this morning as the response team tries to take advantage of a window of fine weather. An exclusion zone around the ship is also being reviewed today by Tauranga’s harbour master. Maritime New Zealand salvage unit manager Bruce Anderson said the role of the salvage teams was to re-enter the port fuel-tank 5 and prepare pumping…

Salvage workers are bracing for the death of the “creaking, groaning” MV Rena, now sitting precariously on Astrolabe Reef and expected to flood more oil into the sea. The same pancake-sized blobs of oil that have blotted the Western Bay of Plenty coastline were found at White Island yesterday and are expected to arrive at East Cape by Saturday. Last night, the crippled 47,000 tonne container ship was threatening to…

Bay of Plenty residents finally had small cause to celebrate amid the Rena disaster when officials declared Mt Maunganui’s most popular beach open yesterday. Dozens of locals flocked to the beach and cafes along the Marine Parade reported a pick-up in trade. “It’s great – people love coming here and to the beach, so it’s good news … everyone’s quite happy,” said Janet Kim of Coffee Club. Maritime New Zealand…

There are clean-up sessions with volunteers today planned for: Papamoa at 1.00pm, convening at Papamoa Surf Club Papaoma East at1.00pm, convening at Taylor Road end of Taylor Reserve Maketu at 1.00pm, convening at Whakaue Marae. There are volunteer training sessions planned today: 10am at Torere Marae, and Waitotahi Surf Club 12 midday at Te Kaha Main Marae and Whangaparaoa Marae. These are pre-emptive sessions to ensure that the community can…

Nature will win the Battle of the MV Rena. That is what nature does. This should be some consolation for the heartbroken people of the Bay of Plenty as they watch their landscape defiled by the foolishness of some sailors. The people of the region have taken charge. They are handling the crisis with their spades and plastic bags. They love this coast and its wildlife, and will keep going…