Minutes of AGM for Bay of Islands Maritime Park (draft)
3 September 2014 at 6pm, Bay of Islands Yacht Club at WaitangiPresent: Karen Field, Martin Knight-Willis, Bob Bingham, Rod Brown, Tibor Vogel, Doug Buchan, Justin Topzand, Sandra Scowen, Chris Richmond, Vicky Froude, David Clarkson, Ruth Marsh, Dean Wright, John Booth, Vince Kerr, Chris Booth, Anne-Marie Booth, Derry Godbert, Webber Booth, Adelaide Booth, Ria Bright, Reuben Booth, Edward Durbin, Maria Casse, Gary Morris, RolfMueller-Glodde , Terry Goodall, Ali Goodall
Apologies: Wendy Tobin, Pete Brothers, George Burrell, Nicole Simonotti, Catherine Langford, Fleur and Denis Corbett, Inge Bremer
Welcome: Ruth Marsh welcomed the antedees.
Apologies moved to be accepted: Proposer/seconder: Ruth Marsh/Chris Richmond
Minutes of the last AGM were accepted. Proposer/seconder: John Booth/Sandra Scowen. No matters arising.
Reports:
The chairperson’s report for BOIMP was presented by Ruth Marsh. This was accepted. Proposer/seconder: Chris Richmond/Ali Goodall
The report from Fish Forever was presented by Vince Kerr.
Key points:
• Hapu representatives from eastern Bay of Islands and Fish Forever visited Ngati Konohi at Whangara Marae north of Gisborne in September 2013. The discussion of the establishment of their marine reserve and mataitai made it a productive expedition
• From October-November 2013 on Fish Forever and hapu meetings became more difficult because of hapu leadership changes, iwi politics and Treaty of Waitangi strategies. Hapu leadership suspended the Memorandum of Understanding that we had been working to over the previous two years.
• Fish Forever decided to produce and release a Bay of Islands marine reserve discussion document in mid-2014. This was a very professional document and a successful campaign resulted in much support from across the Bay of Islands and New Zealand. Questions were raised by the media and several submitters about the absence of hapu from the process.
• Fish Forever is soon to complete the submission analysis of the 1200+ submissions on the discussion document and begin discussions with western and southern Bay of Islands hapu.
• There is uncertainty about the intended processes for new marine reserve establishment under the planned new Marine Protected Area legislation. There may be no mechanism for community initiated applications.
• Fish Forever crew, especially Dean Wright, John Booth, Chris Richmond, and Chris Booth were thanked for their efforts during the year.
The report was accepted. Proposed/seconder: Ruth Marsh/Chris RichmondThe report from Living Waters was presented by Chris Richmond.
Key points:
• A soils workshop was held in October 2013
• There are active restoration projects at Tangatapu (eastern Bay of Islands), Wairoa Stream (Kerikeri), with the Maungaparerua Stream to starting this year.
• There was good participation in the World Wetlands Day fieldtrip held in February 2014
• 11 meetings of Living Waters and the catchment semi-committee were held during the year
• For the Wairoa Stream there was considerable work undertaken clearing alien plants, 1300 native plants were planted on public land and 500 native plants were planted on private land
• The Tangatapu restoration project included two public planting days (10 May, 25 May) and many workdays involving smaller numbers of a core group. On the floodplain 45 volunteers planted 3800 plants. There had been extensive preparation of the planting area before planting day. On the hillside 30 volunteers planted 2000 plants. Work has begun on reinstating the internal drainage on the floodplain. Various site preparation and plant release techniques were experimented with over the year. Innovations (e.g. colour coding stakes for the plant to be planted) have been shared.
• There was a question about the situation with the landowner adjoining the Tangatapu covenant. Chris responded that they had fenced nearly all of their side of the floodplain and were supportive of the floodplain restoration and were working in parallel with Living Waters.
The report was accepted. Proposer/seconder: Ruth Marsh/Vicky FroudeTreasurer’s report was presented by Dean Wright.
• He emphasised the importance of getting people to join the organisation (including via the websites for Living Waters and Fish Forever)
• The audited accounts have been uploaded-these record the income and expenditure
• $97,000 of total assets but $47,194 has not yet been spent giving net assets of $50,305
This report was accepted: proposer/seconder: Dean Wright/Ruth Marsh
Proposal: membership fees are to remain as they are: $25 single; $35 family; $50 organisation. Accepted proposer/seconder Dean Wright/Ruth Marsh
Proposal: PK Poutusma is to remain as the auditor. Accepted: proposer/seconder Dean Wright/Ruth MarshRule changes.
These were presented by Ruth Marsh. The key purpose is to more clearly separate management and governance. Ruth acknowledged that the organisation had great technical skills but there was a need to bring in people with expertise in governance and fundraising. The new rules implement the proposed new structure and follow the sample format for rules provided by the Companies’ Office.
Key changes: add a vision and mission; revise the purposes; and provide for the new structure. The presentation was followed by discussion:
• What happens if someone steps down during the year? Answer a replacement is only elected if this is needed. It was recommended that the rules be amended to clarify this although no amendment was proposed
• Can anyone choose to become a member or does an application for membership have to be approved? It was noted that there was a risk of an organisation being taken over by a hostile group.
• Proposed amendment: that Rule 14 be expanded as follows (in bold)”:…all persons and organisations supporting the objectives and willing to participate…” Proposer/seconder: Chris Richmond/Dean Wright.
• It was suggested that there be an option to add a kuia to the governance group.
• Proposed amendment: That rule 9(a)(ii) be expanded as follows (in bold) “One Kaumatua and one kuia,…”.
• The boundaries or area of interest for the Bay of Islands Maritime Park Inc was discussed. Ruth Marsh stated that this will be refined as part of strategy development during the year. The boundary is not specified in the rules.
Proposal: that the rule changes be accepted with the addition of the two amendments discussed. Proposer /seconder: Ruth Marsh/David ClarksonElection of officers (under existing rules as the new rules need to be approved by the Companies Office first)
Catchment
Co-chair Ruth Marsh (Chris Richmond/John Booth)
Co-secretary Chris Richmond (Ruth Marsh/Dean Wright)
Co-treasurer Dean Wright (Chris Richmond/John Booth)
Committee
Sandra Scowen (Chris Richmond/John Booth)
Nicole Simonotti (Chris Richmond/John Booth)
Marine
Co-Chair: Wendy Tobin (Chris Richmond/John Booth)
Secretary: Ria Bright (Chris Richmond/John Booth)
Treasurer: Dean Wright (Chris Richmond/John Booth
Committee
Catherine Langford (Chris Richmond/John Booth)
Chris Booth (Chris Richmond/John Booth)
John Booth (Ruth Marsh/Dean Wright)General business:
1. Dean Wright thanked Ruth Marsh for her work around capacity building
2. Ria Bright thanked Dean Wright for his contribution, especially to Fish Forever
3. In response to a question by Ali Goodall there was discussion about the roles of various environmental groups in the Bay of Island. This included the relationship between BOIMP working groups and the Guardians of Bay of IslandsThe meeting closed at 7:40 p.m.
Guest Speaker:
This was followed by a presentation by John Booth. The excellent presentation titled Five Easy Pieces addressed changes in the Bay of Islands since human arrival for mangroves, sea grass, kelp forests and kai moana.
Vicky Froude, minute taker
Supported by:
