History has repeated itself. In the 1950s the Golden Master, a large cargo ship struck the Astroblabe Reef and was subsequently moved to, and beached at, Matakana Island to prevent its sinking and allow for temporary repairs to be made.
Lessons should have been learned and warning measures put in place long before now.
The potential damage to the environment this latest event presents is catastrophic.
With modern charts and GPS such an event should be impossible to occur.
This will lead to a massive waste of resources to counteract ensuing problems, with the main concern from the public's point of view being oil pollution and its disastrous effects on the environment.

Barry H Walker, Mt Maunganui.