Anger and frustration is spilling over as waves, black with oil from the wrecked container ship, Rena, continue to wash up on the Bay of Plenty foreshore.

Hundreds of locals have been attending community meetings to get the latest on New Zealand’s largest maritime environmental disaster.

Country 99TV reporter Benedict Collins was at one of those meetings in Papamoa where residents demanded answers from the authorities.

He said the number one question on everybody’s lips is why officials did not act during that first four days of good weather, and at least start getting some of the oil off the stricken ship? 

“People were very frustrated. Many were saying that organizers weren’t calling on the thousands of locals who were prepared to volunteer their time.

"People were telling us that  contractors in the area were offering up equipment and organizers were turning them down.

"Benedict said that at the meeting the organizers also apologized as they had set up an 0800 number and that collapsed with the sheer number of people calling through.

"Theres a real mood of frustration and people really wanting answers about what’s going on, and what the future is going to look like.”

Benedeict said people wanted to know about the possibilities of using chemicals to disperse the oiln and that there was a lot of confusion and misinformation circulating in the community.

But the scene on the beach was the big heartbreak for local residents.

“The beaches are just devastated, the waves coming in are thick black with big oily sleeks through them as well. Everything washing up on the beach is just covered in oil and they had hundreds of soldiers and volunteers down on the beach yesterday cleaning it up.

"I guess the main sort of mood down here seems to be people asking why did it take four days of the ship being stuck on the reef with good weather and no one seemed to do much or get any of the oil off.

"A local artist has done up a big sign here which says less hooey more dooey and I guess that sort of sums up the mood quite well.”

But there was some good news.

Officials told the public they were confident people would be able to swim at Papamoa again by Christmas, if conditions were favourable.

Further, they also said the reef where the Rena ran aground is likely to bounce back very quickly.

Not only will Tauranga’s warm waters encourage aquatic microbes to deal to the carbon, but two nearby reefs will encourage repopulation.