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Archives For 30/11/1999

Fish (and seals, whales & dolphins) for the future

Katrina Knill —  05/03/2010

The Tauranga DOC team have been all at sea lately – literally.  

Oscar the seal makes friends wherever he goes

DOC boat the 'Rewa' heads out to Tuhua Marine Reserve for a compliance check

Rangers Dan and Dave have been speaking at the local Bluewater Classic & One Base fishing competition briefings and regularly patrolling the Tuhua Marine Reserve to make sure that everyone knows where the marine reserve is and keeps their fishing rods out of it.  Dan is also making preparations for next week’s annual fish survey in the reserve with marine studies staff and students from the Bay of Plenty Polytech.  

Tuhua Marine Reserve is one of over 30 no-take marine reserves established around New Zealand to protect marine organisms and their habitats for future generations to come.  It’s a great place to dive or snorkel and enjoy some magical underwater scenery.  

Ranger Laura has been catching up with our local permitted dolphin watching operators to make sure they’re keeping the best interests of the dolphins at heart. Commercial operators can help to protect dolphins by giving people the opportunity to see, fall in love with and learn about them.  The permits we issue and monitor require operators to meet set conditions and follow the Marine Mammals Protection Regulations so that their impacts on the dolphins are minimised.  

All boaties can help to look after whales, dolphins and seals by making sure that they know and follow the rules.  The regulations include rules about safe boat speed, distance and angles of approach so that people can enjoy watching whales, dolphins and seals without causing them harm.  

Oscar in action at the Maketu Kaimoana Festival

Awhi helps a young fisherman to learn about marine reserve rules a size limits

Our Maori Cadet – Ranger Awhi & I took Oscar the seal to the Maketu Kaimoana Festival last weekend.  We use him to help us educate people  about marine reserves and marine mammal protection.  We also set up a fishing game so that kids (and their parents) could learn the no-fishing rule in marine reserves and practice measuring fish to check if they meet the Ministry of Fisheries size limits for recreational fishing.   

With Seaweek (7-14 March) coming up  I’ve got more work for Oscar this weekend – I’ll be taking him down to the Mount Maunganui Underwater Club Clean-up at Pilot Bay on Saturday to meet the locals there.  There’s lots happening around the country for Seaweek – its all listed on the website: www.seaweek.org.nz.  Some of the Tauranga event line-up includes:  

  • a public ‘virtual tour’ of the Tuhua Marine Reserve that Ranger Pete is organising on Thursday 11th March where our marine scientist – Kim Young, will share underwater photos and the findings from over a decade of fish monitoring in the reserve
  • A Sea Bird Cruise with the South Sea Sailing Company and local bird expert Tony Crocker on 13th March
  • a marine photography field trip with Dr Kim Westerskov and Captain Graeme Butler on 21 March & 11 April

Aside from Seaweek, March is a good month in Tauranga for getting involved in or learning more about caring for our environment. The Tauranga Environment Centre have put together an amazing calendar of events for “Sustainable Backyards” month; from an educational harbour cruise or guided bush walk to organic farm tours and cheese-making workshops, there’s something for everyone – make sure you check it out.  

Sea you out there!

In Bay of Plenty, Marine, Native animals, Recreation, Sustainability , , , , , ,
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Surveying the mysterious basking shark

Lizzy Sutcliffe —  22/01/2010

This week I had the incredible privilege of witnessing a lone orca from a tiny plane and I’m still buzzing from the experience!

I dream about the ocean, both when I’m awake and asleep, so when I found out about the chance to help out on an aerial survey of the milky-turquoise waters off Banks Peninsula – primarily looking for basking sharks – I jumped at the chance.

Initiated by DOC’s scientific officer, Clinton Duffy, after securing funding from National Geographic, this survey was the second of ten planned over the next couple of months. Previous research carried out by Clinton on white sharks led to their gaining protected status in New Zealand. 

From left to right: Fraser, Euan and Wayne

From left to right: Fraser, Euan and Wayne

I joined biodiversity rangers, Wayne Beggs and Fraser Maddigan, and expert on marine birds, Euan Kennedy, on this week’s flight. Covering the coastline from Brighton, around Banks Peninsula and south to the Rakaia, these shark surveys will also pick up on other noteworthy species for the area such as seabirds and marine mammals.

Sharks have been receiving a global hammering over the years from (amongst other things) bycatch in deep-water trawl fisheries, coastal set nets, the shark-fin industry and human prejudice towards these awesome fish.

Little is known about the massive (up to 12 m) but harmless, plankton-feeding, basking shark, once hunted for its huge liver.

When a similar survey of the area was carried out in the 90s, up to 52 basking sharks were witnessed in a single day and the department is interested to see how the results from this survey will compare. Things weren’t looking so good today with just two possible sightings of unidentified shark species. 

We did, however, spot several Hector’s dolphins, seals and a bait-ball bombarded by sea birds, on the cloudy flight, plus some spectacular views of Banks Peninsula’s impressive topography. The highlight for me was the sighting of a stunning orca apparently feeding at the surface several kilometres out to sea.  

Banks Peninsula coastline

Banks Peninsula coastline

We’d love to hear from you if you have any information regarding shark sightings in the area. Just call or email Wayne at Mahaanui Area Office in Christchurch ph + 64 3 341 9100 or wbeggs@doc.govt.nz

In Canterbury, Marine, Native animals
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Introducing my van… Morrison (geddit?)

 —  12/01/2010

I saw this van for sale on Trademe last year – and just had to have it when I saw the paint job! Could there be a more fitting vehicle for a nature nerd such as myself!?

Me and my lovely van, Morrison

Morrison and I hit the road!

Morrison is an ex-rental backpacker type campervan – which means he’s already kitted out ready for camping – and although he’s done a LOT of kilometres, he runs pretty well (but slow, so no worries about speeding I say!).

Anyway, for those of you not familiar with the half-hour Conservation Week special we filmed for Meet the Locals last year – Morrison has become a character in the show too – he even has his own animated character in the episode! 

The TVNZ crew and I have started filming already for a half-hour special for Seaweek and in honour of the marine theme, we had the last blank space on Morrison painted up by the Morrison’s original artist – Dan Tippett. Dan was a legend, and had this Maui dolphin painted in just under half an hour.

Dan Tippett, artist, shows Nic the new paintjob he's done on her van Morrison.

Dan all finished his beautiful new artwork of a Maui's dolphin

Maui dolphins are a particularly fitting species to have emblazoned on the front of my van – since they are now so endangered, there are thought to be only around 100 left in the whole world.  They are the North Island subspecies of the Hector’s dolphin (also endangered), and are found between Taranaki and Dargaville on the West Coast of the North Island. See this video for a look at why Raglan Area School (an Enviroschool) thinks Maui dolphins are so special.

So next week I’m hitting the road again –  more filming for the Meet the Locals Seaweek special – we’re thinking Maui dolphins (hope we can find some!), New Zealand sea lions and we’ve already been shooting in one of the most special marine places in New Zealand – the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve (which was described by Jacques Coustea as ‘one of the top ten dive spots in the world’).

Can’t wait to get my feet wet! See ya!

In Marine, Native animals
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Colville community come together for pilot whales

Katrina Knill —  27/12/2009

DOC staff working with local volunteers to rescue the stranded whales

I didn’t expect to be flying up to Coromandel to help with a whale stranding when I woke up this morning, but at 9.30am, that’s exactly what I was doing.

63 pilots whales stranded in Colville Bay at about 5.30AM this morning and it didn’t take long for the DOC team up there to leap from holiday to emergency mode and start working towards  rescuing them.

Sadly about 20 of the whales expired pretty early, but thanks to the efforts of locals, iwi, holiday makers, Project Jonah volunteers, the Harbourmaster and our own staff, the rest were kept wet & comfortable until they could be refloated at about 2.30pm. 

Pilot whales get pretty disoriented when they strand, so it took a while for them to ‘find their fins’ and each other, plus they paused for one of the females to give birth to a calf before heading into deeper water.

Dr Ingrid Visser was keeping an eye on them as I left this afternoon.  Here’s hoping they stay out there tonight.

The sad losses

In Coromandel, Marine , , ,
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Team effort on Tuhua – Tauranga’s treasure island

Katrina Knill —  23/11/2009

This has got to be the best office in the world!!!!

The sunrise view of South East Bay from my bunk

I’ve just spent a week with 14 other staff, four volunteers and two owners on Tuhua (Mayor) Island.  Whilst the view of the sunrise from my bunk each morning was a great way to start each day, it was certainly no holiday. 

Each day we loaded our gear and set off on a range of tasks all over the island, returning at the end of day to eat and fall into bed, exhausted but excited to have made a dent in the long list of jobs we had to complete.

Our hard work was rewarded by regular sightings of rare birds, plants, lizards and marine mammals.  Here are just a few of the locals that we saw.

We’ve been working in partnership with the owners (Tuhua Trust Board) for many years to restore the pest-free island and now we’re helping them to make it more accessible for people to enjoy.

I spent three days with our botanist and weed specialists spraying and searching for weeds all over the island, including one day of wading through a wetland, pushing through head-high walls of vegetation in search of the invasive royal fern.  

Spray unit loaded and off to spray weeds

The wetland we waded through

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My last day was spent helping to fix the floor of the caretakers cottage and shifting firewood.

Eveyone’s skills and expertise were used around the island – upgrading buildings, tracks, water supply, removing massive fallen pohutukawa logs from where they had fallen on top of buildings, cleaning up the ammentity areas, killing weeds, patrolling the Marine Reserve, searching for springs in preparation for our orange-front parakeet transfer coming up in December and checking on the pateke (brown teal) and kiwi that have been released on the island.

Rope & chainsaw skills got put to the test

Dave checked out a cliffside kiwi nest

Chris and John fixed the floor

Tawara cleared the track

Dean & Alastair built a huge firewood pile

As inviting as the water looked, I only managed one swim – the cool water and 2m shark we saw swimming in the bay on our first evening were a little off-putting.  But when I did get wet, I took mask & snorkel with me and got to see some beautiful kelp beds, big angel fish and incredibly glossy obsidian.

Click here to find out how you could visit Tuhua – Tauranga’s piece of paradise.

In Bay of Plenty, Islands, Marine, Volunteers, Weeds , , , , , ,
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