HISTORY OF GOPI

Guardians of Pāuatahanui Inlet Incorporated (GOPI) was founded in 1991 by a group of local residents who were concerned about the Inlet. They felt that although the Inlet environment had for some years been under threat from human activities around its shores, no organisation with comprehensive interests in defending Inlet ecology existed.

GOPI's aims are to promote public understanding of Inlet ecology and to press for the restoration of degraded habitats by responsible local authorities.

GOPI's activities include 'hands-on' restoration work and ecological monitoring, education and publicity programmes, a tri-annual newsletter and making submissions on local developments and other issues that potentially affect the Inlet environment.

On 11 November 2011 GOPI became registered as a charity.

In 2015 (PICT), the Pāuatahanui Inlet Community Trust, originally set up in 2002, felt it had achieved most of the objectives for which it was formed and considered how its focus could best be served in the future. In conclusion it was decided that several of its members would join the Guardians to offer their services in an appropriate way with the intention of strengthening the advocacy capacity of GOPI. 

Membership is by subscription and the number of subscriptions currently stands at about 110. This includes couples and family memberships, mostly of local residents.