Vava'u Marine Services: Vaipua Boatyard Development - Environmental Impact Assessment

Abstract

This document reports the findings of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the construction of a hard stand boat haul out and storage facility (here on referred to as a boatyard) in the Vaipua area of the Vava’u island group in the Kingdom of Tonga. The boatyard operation will consist of a compacted haulage slipway, a graded and sealed land area and related terrestrial infrastructure covering an area of approximately 2.42 hectares. The boatyard will be a facility for the long or short term storage of a maximum of 150 vessels up to 55ft in length with a maximum weight of 30 tonnes. Following the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act 2003, approval must be sought from the Tongan Government Ministry for Environment for any predefined major projects that are likely to have an impact on the elements described in the EIA Act. Under Schedule 1 (subsection j) of the EIA Act, this project comprises “of a dry storage area for more than 20 pleasure or recreation craft” rendering it a major project and therefore automatically requiring an EIA to be presented to the Minister of Environment. Pacific Environmental & Ecotourism Consultancy Services (PEECS) (consultant) has been contracted by Vava’u Marine Services (proponent) to prepare the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). This EIA is prepared in accordance with the Tongan Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations 2010 and other relevant regulations and guidelines applicable to the proposed project.