Coasts and Estuaries news

An underwater video camera on wheels is the latest weapon in the war against the introduction of exotic marine species into New Zealand waters.

A major marine survey and monitoring programme designed to detect new exotic species before they become established in New Zealand waters kicks off in Northland today.

There are more than 150 exotic marine species in New Zealand’s coastal waters already, and at least one new species arrives every year according to a report in NIWA’s new Aquatic Biodiversity & Biosecurity newsletter, published today.

A NIWA research voyage using RV Tangaroa has returned to Auckland on Thursday, 2 May, after three weeks of frontier mapping of undiscovered volcanoes between the North Island and the Kermadec Islands 1000 km to the north of New Zealand. Prior to the voyage little was known about this segment of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

The announcement last week that the Maui gas field might run out 2 years early is a worry because New Zealand relies on natural gas for much of its energy needs. There are also emission problems associated with burning fossil fuels, and fossil fuels are not renewable. So, where can we get the energy we need if we want to increase our economic prosperity and improve our standard of living, without damaging the environment?

The giant squid (Architeuthis), the world’s largest invertebrate, has never been seen alive – until now. A new Discovery Channel special joins an international expedition team in the waters off New Zealand as they succeed in capturing living juvenile specimens for the first time. The juveniles were found in the larval stage, ranging in size from 9 to 13 millimetres. The expedition, fully funded by the Discovery Channel, was undertaken in cooperation with NIWA and led by marine biologist Dr Steve O’Shea.

For many of us, the temperature of the ocean simply determines whether or not we go for a quick dip or opt for lazing on the beach instead.

In February 1999, New Zealand scientists led an international research expedition to the remote Southern Ocean,to artificially initiate an algal bloom by adding dissolved iron to the sea. The results of this expedition are published today in a series of papers in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.

French and New Zealand scientists are examining sediments deposited over the last two million years in the offshore Wanganui Basin.

The French scientists are from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the University of Rennes, and they are working with geologists and geophysicists from NIWA (the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research).

Their aim is to study the most recently active submarine faults in the basin and the influence of sea-level changes on the sequence in which the sediment was deposited.

The abundance and sizes of fish within the Kapiti Marine Reserve have impressed research divers who have just completed a survey to assess how well the marine environment has recovered since it was protected in 1992.