Wellington City Council's proposal to tow an old boat from a public wharf would mean the loss of a "cultural icon", according to one of the organisers of The SeaLion community.
The SeaLion has been moored at the end of Queen's Wharf for two decades - but for the last eight months the boat has become more than just a vessel.
In August, Welingtonian Dylan Pyle moved on board with two other friends and turned the boat into a sober venue, where local bands can perform and community workshops are held.
"The SeaLion is aimed at nurturing social wellbeing and artistic exploration," Pyle told Newshub.
"Wellington city needs more community spaces, artistic spaces - spaces for people to exist in outside of their homes and their work."
But ownership of the boat's mooring contract recently changed hands from CentrePort to Wellington City Council (WCC). And as WCC hasn't renewed the vessel's berthage contract, it wants the boat moved to Glasgow Wharf - where there is no pedestrian access.
CentrePort's general manager of logistics Mark Thompson says the SeaLion is not seaworthy.
"A standard condition of berthing at Queens Wharf by any vessel is that they are seaworthy," says Thompson.
"Our advice is that SeaLion is not currently seaworthy and requires repairs. CentrePort is working with the owner on helping facilitate these necessary repairs to ensure the vessel is seaworthy and therefore safe....Glasgow Wharf has been identified as a suitable location to undertake such major repairs safely."
Thompson says CentrePort has "no relationship" with Pyle and the other tenants, and that is the responsibility of the vessel's owner - as is the eventual location of the boat.
Pyle says moving the boat would be the end of The SeaLion's time as a community space.
"If the boat goes, the community goes with it - if it loses the space, it loses the heart of it," says Pyle.
A spokesperson for WCC told Newshub they "weren't sure most observers would consider the SeaLion to be an established community space".
"There’s no law about what constitutes a community space – but until today I’ve never heard of the SeaLion described as some sort of community facility – and we’re not aware of any community events happening aboard the vessel."
However - the SeaLion was a venue during the recent council-funded event 'What if the City was a Theatre'.
Through February the SeaLion hosted gigs almost every day and appeared on billboards across the waterfront with the Wellington City Council logo emblazoned beneath a large photograph of the boat.
When asked about this, the council spokesperson said they were not "personally aware" the SeaLion had been part of the event during prior communication with Newshub.
"Yes that event is financially supported by the Council but we had no role in actually organising any of the gigs," they said.
"Our line is that anyone could theoretically play music off a vessel in the harbour but it doesn't then follow that the vessel is a community facility with permanent rights to a berth at Queens Wharf."
A petition pleading for the boat to remain where it is has been signed by more than 600 people, as of 2pm on Wednesday.
"I just want to know if [the council] realises the cultural capital here," said Pyle.
"I see the amount of people who come by and take pictures of [The SeaLion] - it would be the end of a cultural icon from which a lot of people get a lot of joy."
WCC says The SeaLion is in a state of such disrepair it would need heavy machines and trucks to get it seaworthy.
"Queens Wharf, being a public facility, is not the place for that to happen," the spokesperson told Newshub.
"She needs serious work done"
The boat's owner, Selwyn Findley, disagrees.
"The ship is beautifully built from an era when things were built to last," he told Newshub.
"I plan temporary repairs, done by divers, to hold it until I can slip it or beach it for antifouling...the repairs can be done where it sits - the only time I would need a truck of any type would be if I was to remove the engine, which I do not need to at this time. I can repair it where it is."
He says WCC was previously fine with him having a septic service truck drive up to the boat to empty the blackwater - which would be all the heavy machinery he would need.
Pyle says he's not bagging on the council at all - all he wants is to be able to work with it, to find a solution for the future of The SeaLion.
