Coasts

NIWA aims to provide the knowledge needed for the sound environmental management of our marine resources.

  • Braided river morphodynamics and invasive exotic vegetation

    Research Project
    Braided rivers are an arena where woody weeds and floods are in constant competition with each other.
    Braided rivers naturally flood frequently, repeatedly mobilising their bed sediments and shifting their multiple channels.
  • Sedimentation effects

    Research Project
    A combination of field surveys and on-site observations are being used along with laboratory-based experiments to determine the effects of seabed disturbance on benthic life.
  • Plastic pollution processes in rivers

    Research Project
    Most of the plastic in the ocean originates on land, being carried to the estuaries and coasts by rivers. Managing this plastic on land before it reaches the river could be the key to stemming the tide of marine-bound plastics. The aim of this project is to understand the sources and fate of plastic pollution carried by urban rivers using the Kaiwharawhara Stream as a case study.
  • IPBES Nature Futures Workshop

    Research Project
    NIWA hosted an IPBES workshop entitled “Visions for nature and nature’s contributions to people for the 21st century” held from 4-8 September 2017 in Auckland.
  • The New Zealand Estuary Trophic Index

    Research Project
    Excessive nutrient input (eutrophication) threatens many New Zealand estuaries causing ecological problems, such as algal blooms and poor physical and chemical conditions for estuarine life.
  • Changes in juvenile fish habitats

    Research Project
    NIWA is looking for people who have had a long association with the Hauraki Gulf or Marlborough Sounds to help them with a research project on juvenile fish habitats.
  • The decline of New Zealand’s sea lions

    Research Project
    The main breeding population of New Zealand sea lions at the Auckland Islands has halved in size since the late-1990s; NIWA scientists are working with the government and experts from around New Zealand and overseas to understand why.
  • CARIM (Coastal Acidification: Rate, Impacts & Management)

    Research Project
    A NIWA-led project to tackle coastal acidification in New Zealand.
  • Mapping the ecosystem service potential of our coasts

    Research Project
    Estuaries and coasts provide a wide range of benefits to New Zealanders – “ecosystem services”. However, we still don’t know enough about these ecosystem services – a challenge NIWA and other scientists are tackling with a new technique.
  • Tidal creeks – connections between freshwater and saltwater

    Research Project
    An experiment in Henderson Creek, Auckland, has demonstrated how tidal creeks variously import, export and deposit sediment, depending on the wind and freshwater runoff, and modulated by the tide.
  • Sediments and mangroves

    Research Project
    Mangrove forests, which are important parts of estuarine ecosystems in a number of ways, are sensitive to changing sea level.
  • Reclassifying karengo (nori)

    Research Project
    The seaweed known colloquially as nori in Japanese - used for making sushi - or karengo in Maori has been reclassified by an international team of scientists including NIWA's Dr Wendy Nelson.