Students and staff get stuck into Tauranga harbour study

The University of Waikato’s new coastal research field station, which opened in early December, has become a busy hub for workers involved in an intensive survey of Tauranga Harbour, supported by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Collaborative Project

University and Regional Council staff and research students began taking a census of inter-tidal marine life last week to get a snapshot of the state of ecosystems. The data will form part of the ‘Whole of Harbour’ survey, which is a collaborative project involving the University of Waikato, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Tauranga Moana iwi, Massey University and the Cawthron Institute, to study the health and biodiversity of the harbour.

The survey has been recommended to help researchers provide better information to feed into restoration plans for the harbour.

Ecosystem Review

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Science Manager Mr Rob Donald said the last intensive harbour survey was conducted during the 1990s and it was time to review the state of the entire habour ecosystem.

University of Waikato Chair in Coastal Science Professor Chris Battershill said: “This survey will give us valuable information on the health of the harbour and ecosystems and will allow us to study the connections between different parts of the harbour.

“We know a lot about the specific components of ecosystems but not everything together. We want to know more about the connectivity of the ecosystems and how close they are to tipping points. The Rena incident has brought into focus how much we need this type of information, to be able to gauge how much the environment can tolerate.”

People

During a three week period, a team of up to 30 staff, iwi, students and volunteers plan to examine 75 harbour sites between Bowentown and Te Maunga to gather data on kaimoana size and abundance, as well as examining sediment character. Surveys in deeper channel water will take place in 2012.

“Survey workers can estimate crab numbers by counting crab holes in the sand. Shellfish and other animals within sediments are counted by examining sieved sand cores,” said Professor Battershill.

He said the aim is to establish the connection between the quality of the sediments and degree of any pollution, and the marine life that lives there. “The survey results will act as a backdrop to more intensive study on the passage of contaminants from the land and other sources, up through the food web.”

Samples were being processed at the new Sulphur Point field station for later investigation at the Cawthron Institute, where scientists will determine levels of oil contaminants, Professor Battershill said.

He said the ‘Whole of Harbour’ survey was the launch pad for a new era of collaborative coastal research in the Bay.

“It is also relevant to the Intercoast programme, which is a multidisciplinary science research partnership involving PhD students from Waikato University and the University of Bremen in Germany.”