The extra flow created by very high tides late last week has carved a considerable chunk off the sand build-up in the Whakatāne River channel, adjacent to ‘The Lady on the Rock’. The Council's Harbour team will take accurate measurements at low tide the night of 24 November. We estimate that the channel width has increased by up to 10 metres without significantly affecting the channel depth. As at low tide the morning of 24 November, the minimum depth at the bar was 1.3 metres, which is unchanged from last week.

The Council is now looking to replace the beacon removed last week to create additional manoeuvring space in the narrowest section of the channel, adjacent to the sand build-up. Channel width and weather conditions permitting, that operation will also be undertaken at high tide the morning of 25 November.

The Council’s channel maintenance resource consent allows for a start to dredging activities from 1 December. This will allow any shallowing in the channel to be targeted by bucket dredging and/or sand-jetting on outgoing tides.