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Archives For 30/11/1999

Jobs at DOC: Murray Neilson, Freshwater Ecosystems Officer

Department of Conservation —  15/06/2012

Every Friday Jobs at DOC will take you behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation.

Today we profile Murray Neilson, Technical Support Officer: Freshwater Ecosystems.

At work…

What kind of things do you do in your role?

I’m responsible for overseeing Otago Conservancy’s freshwater programme and its non-migratory galaxiid programme. I also have responsibility for overseeing the conservancy’s wetland protection role. In addition to this I’m the current Non-migratory Galaxiid Recovery Group leader. I spend much of my time advocating for freshwater habitats and species through the RMA process, gathering and presenting evidence to regional council hearings and the Environment Court.

I also represent the Department at stakeholder meetings connected with these processes. In my role as Recovery Group Leader I provide advice to Otago and other conservancies on non-migratory galaxiid protection and monitoring activities, and commission relevant research projects. Occasionally (very occasionally these days!) I get to go out with the Coastal Otago freshwater team and do some actual electric fishing survey work.

Left: In the entrance hall at Shepherdstown U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Training Centre, on an Environmental Flows training course.
Right: One for the pot – hunting at Omaio 2010.

What is the best part about your job?

The great environments it’s been my good fortune to work in (e.g. fisheries surveys in the Otago high country as part of High Country Tenure Review – just magic!), and the many good people it’s been my privilege to work with.

What is the hardest part about your job?

Convincing other agencies of the need to give greater recognition and protection to our unique freshwater species and habitats.Understanding the various complexities of NHMS, species optimisation, priority setting etc., and dealing with the machinations of the DOC bureaucracy.

What led you to your role in DOC?

I was previously a Game Management Officer with the Wildlife Service and was stationed in Dunedin, dealing with gamebird management, wetlands and environmental planning issues from July 1975 until April 1987 when DOC subsumed the service. Prior to that I’d been an Assistant Game Management Officer in Rotorua, and before that, after completing a wildlife traineeship, an Assistant Fauna Conservation Officer working out of Wellington.

Left: Upper Ahuriri Valley. Right: Good trout from the upper Ahuriri River.

What was your highlight from the month just gone?

Pending the opening morning of the game season, duck hunting with my son Sean in the Upper Taieri wetland (quite successfully I might add!).

The rule of three…

Three loves

  1. My family
  2. My pets
  3. Otago Province

Three pet peeves

  1. Terms such as ‘going forward’, ‘change is inevitable’ (perhaps, but is it always for the good?) and other management speak
  2. Tele-marketers
  3. Over-sensitive car alarms

Three foods

  1. Slow roasted Canada goose (you have to try it, believe me!)
  2. Mushroom soup
  3. Porterhouse steak (medium rare)

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. The Ahuriri Valley
  2. The Maniototo basin
  3. Waipori/Waihola wetland

Favourite movie, album, book

  1. Movie – A River Runs Through It
  2. Album – The Last Waltz – The Band, and most early Bob Dylan stuff
  3. Book – This one’s hard, I read a lot and love spy thrillers and mysteries, so it’s whatever I’m enjoying at the time. My favourite authors are David Baldacci, Greg Iles, Richard North Patterson, Christopher Reichs, and Lee Child.

Left: Another for the pot – Wilberforce River 2009.
Right: Canoeing with my daughter on Lake Waihola.

Deep and meaningful

“Don’t look back – something might be gaining on you!” For some reason this line, uttered by Kris Kristofferson in the film Convoy, has stuck with me.

What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

Never give up (at least without a good fight!).

Who or what inspires you and why?

A still, late summer’s day on a free-running river, and extremely talented individuals.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A Wildlife Officer (surprisingly enough!).

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be?

Retired and relaxed – which I’m shortly to be!

What sustainability tip would you like to pass on?

Forget this electric car stuff (this will eventaully lead to demand for more hydro dams, despite the current hiatus). Eco-diesel is the way to go (made from waste product, of course!).

Which green behaviour would you like to adopt this year – at home? At work?

At home (as that’s where I’ll mostly be, in future) – grow more vegetables and make more compost.

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why?

Our native falcon, kārearea – the combination of speed, agility and fearlessness is irresistable.

What piece of advice or message would you want to give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation?

You only get one good chance at this, so do it right, and look after your freshwater habitats!

In Jobs at DOC, Otago, Wetlands , , ,
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Jobs at DOC: Dave Cade, freshwater threats ranger

Department of Conservation —  08/06/2012

Every Friday Jobs at DOC will take you behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation.

Today we profile Dave Cade, freshwater threats ranger…

Name: David Cade—known as Didymo Dave

Dave spreading the message: check, clean, dry

Position: Freshwater threats ranger, based in Turangi

At work…

What kind of things do you do in your role?

Spread the CHECK CLEAN DRY/kaitiakitanga message far and wide by whatever means, far or foul.

What is the best part about your job?

I don’t have a job—I’m on a mission for New Zealand.

What led you to your role in DOC?

They came looking for me!

What was your highlight from the month just gone?

Two mates adapted a small log splitter to an aluminium can crusher so I can crush the hundreds of cans we pick up from off the side of the road, restaurants, and bars etc. so much faster. The proceeds from the sale of the cans are donated to conservation projects.

Dave at work

The rule of three…

Three loves

  1. Trout fishing
  2. Waikato rugby teams
  3. Creedence Clearwater Revival

Three pet peeves

  1. People who don’t respect their country
  2. People who drop rubbish
  3. Selfish people

    Dave at work

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. Anywhere when I’m with my two sons
  2. Hinemaiaia Stream in Taupo
  3. Lake Taupo

Favourite book

The Bible—love the story of David who kicked the snot out of Goliath.

Deep and meaningful…

What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

Dream bigger dreams then go chase them!

Who or what inspires you and why?

Jeff Donaldson—Otago Regional Council, Billy Graham—a boxer from Wellington, and the Late General Patton. Men on a mission!

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A dairy farmer—I was until my health packed up.

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be?

I’d be running my own business again.

What sustainability tip would you like to pass on?

Aluminium cans can fund a lot of conservation—don’t throw them away.

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why?

A North Island robin, the cutest little things around.

What piece of advice or message would you want to give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation?

This country is worth fighting for!

Dave’s stoat tail project

The stoat tail project started a couple of years back. I get tails sent to me from around New Zealand. I tie them into trout flies in my own time and then sell them through a conservation-minded fishing store for $5 per fly.

I make no charge for materials or time, the store charges no commission, and all proceeds are donated to a trapping line that is on the Hinemaiaia Stream, 20 minutes south of Taupo which is run by my son and I again in our spare time. We have built up to 125 traps, and just on 600 rats, stoats, and weasels have been trapped.

Stoat tail fly

Stoat traps

Learn more

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Jobs at DOC: Freshwater ecologist, David Kelly

Department of Conservation —  31/10/2011

Every Monday Jobs at DOC will take you behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation.

This week we meet freshwater ecologist, David Kelly

At work…

Fisheries survey on Six-foot Lake, Campbell Island

Name: David Kelly

Position: Scientific Officer, Freshwater Section R&D, Christchurch

What kind of things do you do in your role?

A combination of managing science projects, developing tools for more effectively managing freshwaters (such as flow management models and conservation ranking tools), and providing technical advice in varying capacities on freshwater management. 

I spend a reasonable amount of time working with some of the Conservancy planners and solicitors around RMA processes.

I work with some of the other sections in National Office, such as the Policy Group, on inputting ideas to national policy statements and environmental standards. 

I work quite a bit with scientists and managers from other organisations such as CRIs, universities, and regional councils on various freshwater projects. 

What is the best part about your job?

By far the best part of my job is being out there and getting wet. As with most people who work for DOC, it’s my love of the environment, and particularly rivers and lakes, that drives me. So pursuing a career as a freshwater ecologist means that I have the privilege of spending time out there submersed in my study medium.

I dive, I wade, and I flop around on the banks in my waders like a clumsy seal, and it’s all great. Like all fieldwork, there are days when you say ‘I can’t believe I am getting paid to do this’, and then there are the days when I say ‘There is no way I’m getting paid enough to do this’ – usually as sleet is falling in a howling southerly.

The freshwater team on a weekend excursion up the Rakaia River

What is the hardest part about your job?

The hardest part of my job is the amount of contract management I do. Because we are a small section, a significant amount of this work is done externally through other science providers. This involves a lot of process and paperwork, which is a little less inspiring than either running experiments, or analysing data.

What led you to your role in DOC?

It’s a bit of a long story how I ended up here: I was finishing graduate school in Canada, and co-taught a course on coastal limnology (the study of freshwaters) with a kiwi—Warrick Vincent—who was then working at Laval University in Quebec City.

Warrick is one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met. It was through Warrick that I made contact with some of his colleagues from NIWA, where I came to work (with the lakes team in Christchurch) for a number of years.

I was co-managing a project between NIWA and DOC, on a national lowland lakes examination, and eventually DOC advertised a position within their newly formed freshwater section to run this work. The thought of working for an organisation that is more directly linked to conservation management was really attractive to me, so I applied.

What was your highlight from the month just gone?

It would have to be attending the combined meeting of the Freshwater Science societies of both New Zealand and Australia in Brisbane. It was great to see what is going on across the ditch in terms of their approaches to managing freshwater under some very challenging circumstances (multi-year droughts), and to get to share some of our projects and ideas with them.

The rule of three…

Three loves

  1. My family
  2. Fishing
  3. Hunting… my wife might question whether that is really the correct order, but I’m holding strong on this one.

Three pet peeves

  1. Earthquakes—having to abandon my home in Christchurch; surprise
  2. The lack of thermal insulation in buildings—come on, what latitude is it here anyhow? 
  3. Way too much sport in the news—never with any coverage of ice hockey I might add.

Three things always in your fridge

  1. Milk, because I can’t even begin a conversation in the morning without at least one latte in me.
  2. Finely crafted homemade beer, for which I have a ‘special fridge’ with in-built taps.
  3. Wild venison salami—because making pizzas in my wood-fired brick oven is truly the highlight of all my cooking experiences; man-flame-outdoors-large tools-wild meat-pizza. Mmmmmmm.

The pizza oven on Christmas day lunch at Inangahua

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. My bach on the Inangahua River, where I am now lucky enough to live for a stint while the earthquake aftermath unfolds in Christchurch (working out of the Kawatiri Area Office temporarily, so thanks to the folks there for making me welcome). 
  2. Campbell Island—wow, what a place to see wildlife up close and personal, my most memorable DOC trip ever!
  3. The wild and free West Coast back-country rivers—fishing and hunting nirvanas, I’d tell you which ones, but then I’d have to kill you.

A day exploring Campbell Island

Favourite movie, album, book

  1. Movie: The Big Lebowski—’The Dude’ cracks me up every time, and laughing is one of the most important things in life.
  2. Album: It’s nearly impossible to narrow it to one, but by the sheer amount of enjoyment I’ve gotten from spinning the vinyl version of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon makes it the winner.
  3. Book: It has to be a quirky one, possibly Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins.

Deep and meaningful…

What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

Make sure you do something you enjoy, and don’t hurry into it, it’s all about the journey—not where you get to.

Who or what inspires you and why?

Really smart people who know a lot about a whole range of things. I like to see people that are not only good at their jobs but at a range of things outside work that they can pass along to others. And my six month old son Jasper, whose smiles and giggles make even the worst day all make sense.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Funnily enough a doctor, but I think this was subliminally instilled in me by my mother. Once I was older and realised how many people were on the planet, my far greater concern was to help other species.

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be?

Possibly a fishing guide, I love being out on rivers and I think I could watch fish all day.

A good haul for the freezer

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why?

I reckon an octopus—they are so smart, can squeeze through the tiniest of spaces to uncover delicious crayfish, and how handy would it be to have even three arms let alone eight?

What piece of advice or message would you want to give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation?

Learn from the experiences of other countries that have much higher population densities, and don’t let the incredible natural assets you have erode away.

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Tuna Kuwharuwharu – Longfin Eel

 —  05/10/2009

I remember reading journal stories at school which talked about tuna (eels) and being terrified of them through their descriptions about them lurking in rivers with big teeth.  As a city-born lassie I thought they were everywhere and they would bite my feet off.  Since moving to Wairarapa I understand this is not the case – our eels are in massive decline.

Longfin eel image captured by Alton Perrie at Greater Wellington Regional Council

Longfin eel image captured by Alton Perrie at Greater Wellington Regional Council

Here in Wairarapa DOC, iwi and Greater Wellington Regional Council officers have unofficially decided to spend a year promoting tuna, particularly the endangered longfin, to our community to highlight what an exciting species it is.  Hopefully we can raise awareness and people will start to respect this incredible fish who migrates from Tonga when its only a few millimetres long.

So far this year we’ve got some eel stories in the media including on Good Morning on TVNZ, tuna were a topic that children who attended our Ngahuru, Enviroschool’s Wairarapa day of learning could understand more and see them get fed at Pukaha Mount Bruce where some big longfins live and we were lucky enought to have Caleb Royale, a scientist from Te Wananga o Raukawa, to host a field trip at Papawai marae.

To finish off our year of promotion we’re working with Rangitane o Wairarapa to publish a teacher’s resource on tuna.  Joseph Potangaroa has written up everything he knows about them both scientifically, historically and culturally, found some awesome photographs and developed resources children can do in class to learn. 

Hopefully if we can help bring tuna alive then the next generations will help us to restore our land and stop over-fishing of such an incredible species.

We’re currently drawing up a bid for funding so our plan can become action so watch this space and maybe I’ll upload the document when it comes into action!  Let’s hope everyone can start to develop an understanding of how important tuna are for NZ and not be scared of them any longer.

Here in Wairarapa, goodness gracious I’ve never seen so many eels, that many over here that the drains at Te Hopai used to be 8 feet deep, just a mass of eels going out to sea.  I’ve seen that, and we just put in a big wire, no barb and just pulled them out, out of the drains.  Big wide drains, about 12 feet wide.  The drains were thick with eels.  You could hear them at night like ducks taking off and you know they’re running.
From an interview with Wiremu Aspinall 2001

Some interesting facts about eels you may not know:

  • Eels breed once in their lives and then die
  • Females don’t mature until they’re 34 years old, males until they’re 23-25
  • A female longin eel can have between 1-20 million eggs
  • They swin 6,000 kilometres to deep warm trenches, possibly off the Tongan coast where each eel lays or fertilises eggs.  All the adults then die.
  • The eggs develop into tiny see through creatures called leptocephalus.  These drift on currents back towards the New Zealand coast.
  • Leptocephalus develop into glass eels.  Between July and November large numbers of the tiny eels enter waterways.  A week later glass eels develop dark skin pigment and become elvers.
  • Elvers can climb straight up wet rock faces and other obstacles as they move inland.

More information on tuna can be found on the DOC website, you can watch an edition of TVNZ6 Meet the Locals where they look at eels, you can order a very special DVD called Longfin and you can head to Pukaha Mount Bruce and watch the daily eel feed with DOC rangers.

In Wellington/Kapiti, Wetlands , ,
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