Soon to be a familiar sight on the harbour front beaches this summer will be the sea lettuce collector.
Contractor Dean Kelliher was able to import the US-made beach rake because of the first ever joint venture sea lettuce arrangement between Environment Bay of Plenty and the Tauranga City Council.

Raking up sea lettuce. Picture by Tracy Hardy.

The imported beach rake is being paid for twice-over by ratepayers, firstly through their Tauranga City Council rates, and also through their regional council rates.
Both EBOP and Tauranga City Council have put up $30,000 to clean up what is expected to be a bumper crop of sea lettuce this summer.
'We have done three grooms to date and we have picked up 140 tonne,” says Dean.
The sea lettuce is sought after for fertiliser by organic avocado growers, and arrangements are being made to set up a dump site where they can collect it.

'We've gone out to Pongakawa today, which is a little bit too far,” says Dean.
'Ideally we would like a central hub where we can dump it and they can collect it.”
Budgetary constraints mean the harbour beaches will not be raked regularly, but only when sea lettuce builds up.
'We are waiting for it to reach levels where it is becoming a real nuisance then acting to remove it before it settles down to rot,” says Dean.
'It is really hard to predict.”

The beach rake's 270 stainless steel tines collect the lettuce and other beach rubbish and convey it into an onboard hopper from where it can be transferred.
The harbour beaches along Kulim Park, Ferguson Park and other high use reserve areas round the harbour front will be raked over whenever the sea lettuce volumes reach a level.
'We'll try and pick it up before it starts breaking down and rotting,” says Dean, 'but if we are down there two times a week then the budget will run out.”
Dean's new beach rake will also be seen by early risers on the Mount's main beach this summer.