Should commercial businesses be allowed to operate in a marine reserve? Or in actual fact, from any beach in New Zealand. Surely the place for selling or hiring equipment or tours should be somewhere else? Why should one person have a right to run their business from a beach while other local operators are not allowed to and restricted to their premises where they pay rates etc.
If a business hires out equipment, say from their premises, or book people onto a tour and then they are taken to a marine reserve for the experience or activity they have paid for, it is a different matter entirely.
Can you imagine a small beach covered with commercial operators i.e. paddleboard hire, kayak hire, snorkel and dive hire, guided rocky shore tours, boat tours, coffee etc? Where does it stop and why should anyone be able to do this rather than from nearby private or council land?
Auckland Council have given out licences for people to run their business from the beach. It is time this was stopped - before it becomes more of a problem than it already is. It's especially unfair when an operator can set up for a short time in opposition to existing local businesses and set up just 10 metres away from the existing business.
If a business hires out equipment, say from their premises, or book people onto a tour and then they are taken to a marine reserve for the experience or activity they have paid for, it is a different matter entirely.
Can you imagine a small beach covered with commercial operators i.e. paddleboard hire, kayak hire, snorkel and dive hire, guided rocky shore tours, boat tours, coffee etc? Where does it stop and why should anyone be able to do this rather than from nearby private or council land?
Auckland Council have given out licences for people to run their business from the beach. It is time this was stopped - before it becomes more of a problem than it already is. It's especially unfair when an operator can set up for a short time in opposition to existing local businesses and set up just 10 metres away from the existing business.
