LETTER: Space invaders | Auckland Opinion | Local Voices from Auckland, New Zealand

I would like to respond to your recent article concerning mangrove sapling removal from the bay around Mangere Bridge where resident Toni Geux is pictured removing young mangroves by hand. She is also quoted as saying "the mangroves are a real eyesore and a menace".
It is clear from her statement and actions that Ms Geux does not really understand the value and importance of mangroves in protecting the coastal zones from climate change and sea level rise, helping to prevent erosion, enhancing the wild fisheries and offering vital habitat for migratory birds and other fauna.
Also, the mangrove belts protect valuable dairying farmland from estuarine tidal invasion and prevent damage and loss of life from typhoons and storm surges.
As one of your own eminent mangrove scientists stated: "Excess available sediment arriving in many estuaries is the fundamental 'cause' of mangrove expansion over the past 40 years. This sediment is in land based runoff associated with inadequate catchment management, e.g. due to excavations, soil disturbance, forestry operations. The New Zealand mangroves are opportunistically colonising the expanding 'mud-flats' that develop..." - Prof Gordon S.Maxwell, FLS.
Rather than blame mangroves for naturally colonising an area that is filling in with sediments as is the nature of mangroves, why not look to the source of the problem of ill-managed development that is causing inland erosion and consequent sediment buildup? This is the real menace causing the bay there to become too shallow for pleasure boats, raising ire of some local residents.
Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater, but get to the real root of the problem, which is not mangrove roots but a much deeper-rooted problem stemming from human development pressures that are the real driving threat to coastal environs around Mangere Bridge.
Alfredo Quarto
Executive Director
Mangrove Action Project
Port Angeles
USA

This is a most surprising and confusing issue. While mangroves are endangered worldwide, Manukau Harbour residents feel mangroves are encroaching on their views, so they take action by pulling up the shoots.
Do they realise that in the fatal tsunami of 2004, it was those places that had intact mangrove belts that were best protected from the devastations? Mangroves are the best and cheapest coastal defense, and it comes with the bonus of being sustainable.
If they do want to control part of the growth, they might want to set up a helpline to send their pulled-up saplings to those areas (mainly around the Pacific and Indian oceans) where mangrove rehabilitation is taking place.
Whatever they are going to do, the council should know better than aiding and abetting mangrove destruction.
Wolfgang Gerster
Braunfels
Germany