Benthic survey within Whakaraupō / Lyttleton Harbour
Benthic survey within Whakaraupō / Lyttleton Harbour. During the 16th to the 23rd of April 2015 a combined effort from Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu’s Mahinga Kai Monitoring & Enhancement team and TMK team members conducted an intensive benthic survey within Whakaraupō / Lyttleton on Banks Peninsular. The survey was instigated by Tangata Tiaki / Kaitiaki from Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Wheke (Rāpaki) in an effort to support the long term management of key mahinga kai habitats and species within Whakaraupō / Lyttleton Harbour. The team focused on two key habitat types (soft sediment habitat in accessible areas that could be fished using traditional methods and subtidal rocky reef habitat in areas that could be fished by wading and free-diving (i.e. depths ≤ 3 m depth). Over eight days the team established ten permanent subtidal rocky-reef monitoring sites and four permanent soft-sediment monitoring sites. At the end of the trip the team presented some preliminary data to the Rāpaki Tangata Tiaki / Kaitiaki. The information generated by this survey is going to be used and fill gaps identified in the package of information presented to support the Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan and will enable the development of a mahinga kai management plan for Whakaraupō. The team would like to thank all of the volunteers from Rāpaki that helped out during this mahi.