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Rena shipping disaster
Updated 10 January 2012
The Rena, which ran aground on the Astolabe Reef, near Tauranga, is in the process of breaking up, while salvage efforts continue.
Scam collectors operating
Maritime New Zealand advises that there have been reports of people receiving phone calls from people claiming to be part of the wildlife response and seeking donations from the public. Please note this is NOT an official request - there are no requests for public donations for any aspect of the spill response.
Advice for donors
If you want to donate, there are some simple steps you can take to make sure your donation gets to the people who need it. Most collectors are honest and genuine and will be pleased to answer your questions. If you are in any doubt about the validity of the collector, don't give.
All collectors for registered charities must tell you the unique registration number of the charity, if asked. This number is published on each charity’s page on the Charities Register, where you can find details about them.
We suggest that if you want to donate, it’s best to give to charities that you are familiar with, or that you have researched. All registered charities have met the criteria set out in the Charities Act, and are monitored by the Commission, to be sure they remain qualified.
Registered charities can be found on the Charities Register. If you wish, you can use our Advanced Search to find charities whose main sector of operation is “Environment/conservation” and which operate nationwide, or in Tauranga. (If you want to see how we used the Advanced Search to find this information, see how we did it, below).
Or if you prefer, see the spreadsheet of those organisations which our Advanced Search returned.
(We have removed some columns and sorted the data by city, to make it easier for you to open and use).
Other ways to help
Maritime NZ advises that if you want to volunteer and haven't yet done so, please either:
- phone 0800 645 774.
- Go online to the Bay of Plenty beach clean-up website.
- Email iccrena@gmail.com with 'Volunteers - 1 for all' in the subject line
See www.maritimenz.govt.nz/incident for more information.