Port Otago's Project Next Generation resource consents should be granted, subject to conditions, the Otago Regional Council's staff report says.
An independent panel will on April 4 start hearing Port Otago's applications to dredge Otago Harbour, deepening and widening the existing lower harbour channel, swinging area and Port Chalmers berths to provide access for larger container vessels in the future.
It has also applied to extend the existing multipurpose wharf and build a public-use fishing jetty at the end of Boiler Point.
Council director of resource manager Dr Selva Selvarajah, in the report, recommended the panel grant the application subject to conditions.
It was expected adverse effects on the environment would be minor and could be adequately addressed through the recommended consent conditions and the proposed activity was consistent with the requirements of the Resource Management Act and council policies, he said.
Reports prepared for the application concluded the effects of the activity, based on the modelling information, would be "short term and in the long term no more than minor".
A proposed consent condition was that an environmental management plan be developed outlining the methods and mitigation to control the dredging programme. Another was that major dredging adjacent to Taiaroa Head not be be carried out during the summer holiday period when the mole area was popular with divers.
A flora and fauna monitoring programme was suggested to ensure there were no long-term effects from turbidity on sensitive species. To ensure effects were no more than minor on the harbour's cockles, consent conditions have been recommended requiring dredging to cease if turbidity became detrimental to shellfish, Dr Selvarajah said.
Recreational fishing was only likely to be affected in areas where the dredger operated or shortly after it operated.
To avoid the possibility of dredge material mounding at the disposal site and affecting currents, conditions were recommended stating a maximum depth of material to be deposited and that it be monitored, he said.
Port Otago proposed mitigation and monitoring along with an environmental management plan would ensure the effects of the dredging would be no more than minor in the long term, he said.
