Wednesday 21 November 2018

Te Tiaki Inanga project with Department of Conservation


It was fantastic to see some of our work communicated in the new Department of Conservation brochure on using straw bales as temporary īnanga spawning habitat

This project was a truly a collaborative effort thanks to Helen Kettles in the National Estuaries team (thanks Helen!)The team included Helen Kettles, Martin Rutledge, Leana Barriball, Sarah Wilcox, Peter Badalamenti and Laurence Walls (DOC), Pātaka Moore and Caleb Royal (Te Wānanga o Raukawa), and Mike Hickford and myself from the University of Canterbury.

Our kaupapa included piloting a draft version of the resource with several community groups across New Zealand, and their feedback added extra value to the finsihed result. Some of the key people and groups involved were Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Mokopuna (Te Whanganui a Tara), Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rito (Ōtaki), Te Kura a Iwi o Whakatupuranga Rua Mano (Ōtaki), Brooke Ashleigh Turner (DOC, Living Waters) and Jason Roxburgh (Living Matters – Biodiversity & Ecology Solutions), Grant and Rosemary Webby (Waiwhetu Stream Care), Henk Stengs (DOC) and the Cobden Aromahana Ecological Restoration Group.

We were also fortunate to have specialist expertise and advice for preparing a Te Reo translation and whakapapa design thanks to Ruiha Leonard and Sian Montgomery-Neutze.

Check out the Te Reo Māori and English versions of the Te Tiaki Īnanga brochure here:

Read more about the Te Tiaki Īnanga project on the DOC website here
This was an awesome project and we hope it will assist other community restoration groups interested in using this technique.

He iti te mokoroa nāna te kahikatea i kakati
Even the small can make a big impact!

Thursday 25 October 2018

Inanga ora ki te awa o Waitara

It's been great working on this project with Waitara Alive and the Ōtaraua Hapū along with Waitara High School students to better understand the health of whitebait spawning sites along the Waitara River. 
The project is comparing present day spawning site health and abundance to historical evidence collected from local kaumatua. By contrasting past with present, the Inanga Ora project team hope to identify how spawning habitat is changing, and what can be done to better protect it.

The project was funded by the 'Curious Minds' He Hihiri I Te Mahara. Participatory Science Platform.
Check out a recent update from the Venture Taranaki here

Thursday 21 June 2018

Recovery of near-shore environments from impacts of Kaikoura the earthquake

This article provides a summary of changes to the nearshore ecosystem resulting from uplift effects of the Kaikōura earthquake.

Our MBIE funded RECOVER project will be assessing initial recovery trajectories over a 130 km section of the earthquake-impacted coast.

Read more in NZ Coastal Society Special Publication 'Shaky Shores'
https://www.coastalsociety.org.nz/media/view/publications/shaky-shores-coastal-impacts-and-responses-to-the-2016-kaikoura-earthquakes/

Monday 11 June 2018

Earthquakes cause the relocation of spawning habitat on a catchment scale

The story of how whitebait spawning sites shifted to new areas after the Canterbury earthquakes - and became exposed to new vulnerabilities.
This spatial ecology study reveals how and where we can take action to protect them.


Read more here

Tuesday 5 June 2018

Using artificial habitats as a natural habitat detection tool


We have a new paper published in the journal Ecological Indicators that describes the science behind using artificial habitats (such as straw bales) to as a detection tool.

We used this approach to help identify īnanga spawning habitat in degraded waterways where egg mortality can make it difficult to find the eggs directly.

Read more here

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