Category: Other

On the of the 10th of November the 11th annual research evening was held at the Puketeraki Marae. Here students from the University of Otago shared their research that was conducted within, and surrounding the East Otago Taiāpure with the wider community. The night had a great turn out, with students from Anne-Marie Jackson, Chris […]

New regulations (12 December, 2019) now prohibit the commercial and recreational take of pāua within the East Otago Taiāpure. These regulations came into place after 12 years of baseline surveys and monitoring, and have the overall aim of rebuilding fish stocks within the taiāpure. The other new regulations include: prohibit harvesting of attached kelp within […]

In late January 2020, the University of Otago’s research vessel, Polaris II, cruised down to Broad Bay Stewart Island in response to concerns over the presence of Undaria. On arrival, snorkelers swam the perimeter of the bay and located 441 Undaria pinnatifida individuals on an artificial structure. Brown seaweed surveys were conducted at both the […]

University of Otago staff and students, community volunteers, and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu’s Mahinga Kai monitoring team are currently undertaking pāua surveys within the East Otago Taiāpure. This will be the fourth complete survey of pāua in set monitoring sites within the EOT since 2008. The information collected from surveys will provide insight into the […]

As part of her PhD project, Gaby Keeler-May and volunteers from the community successfully cleared just under 12 tonnes of Undaria pinnatifida from 6 sites within the East Otago Taiāpure from November 2019 – January 2020. Sites will be monitored over the next two years for the presence of Undaria, and native seaweed assemblage.

The first scientific pāua translocation has been completed within the East Otago Taiāpure, where a source stock of pāua have been translocated to 10 intertidal and 10 subtidal areas that have been subject to high fishing pressure. Louise Bennett-Jones, with guidance from Dr Gaya Gnanalingam and Assc. Prof Chris Hepburn, is investigating tools and techniques […]

The Mahinga Kai Freshwater Monitoring team would like to extend their profound thanks to those people who volunteered their time helping in the latest He Pātaka Wai Ora Survey, January 2020. The aim of these surveys is to gather information on riparian vegetation, the aquatic plants and algae, invertebrate presence and abundance, and the instream habitat […]

Congratulations to Marine Science PhD student Gaby Keeler-May who has been awarded a first place award of $3000 USD by the American Academy of Underwater Scientists to support her research into Undaria. Gaby’s research investigates the distribution and analysis of Undaria pinnatifida haplotypes in New Zealand harbours and a control project to assess effects of large-scale removal on […]

A new three year project will soon be underway to start to rebuild and buffer valuable kelp-forest habitat along the Otago coastline using climate resilient strains of Macrocystis pyrifera. The project titled Cultivating resilient marine forests to rebuild productive coastal ecosystems received funding through the 2019 Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment’s Endeavour Fund (Smart Ideas) to the […]

Two new members of the TMK team were announced this June; Gaya Gnanalingam and Lucy Coyle were awarded funding in the 2019 Te Pūnaha Hikiko Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund investment round. Both projects are supported by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Mahinga Kai unit and research/academic staff from the University of Otago. Gaya’s project will look […]