Paula Thompson BOP Regional Councillor www.envbop.govt.nz

There are understandable concerns about what causes the brown, red and green seaweed which has been washing up on ocean beaches in some quantities.

The Regional Council has a role in the assessment of this seaweed. The recent ‘influx' was assessed as a result of very strong sea swells and currents which dislodged these seaweeds from their rocky substrates offshore and bought them ashore.

Stranding of brown and red seaweed is not uncommon along Tauranga City beaches after big swells. The growth of seaweeds on rocky substrates is, I am told, 'totally natural” and is not in a ‘bloom state' like we get with sea lettuce within the harbour in favourable conditions.

Sea lettuce is the result of a nutrient rich sea environment and those nutrients come from many sources, including run off from land via streams, erosion and in the ocean itself.

Nutrient run off into our harbour from land use is a key land management matter that the Regional Council is working hard with appropriate landowners on.

It has to be recognised that there are some causes, such as coastal erosion and the existing deep ocean nutrient load, that are difficult, perhaps impossible, to curb .What we can do is try and stem the influx tide from land use and do our best to protect coastal environments from inappropriate use .