No.05 2005

Big marine farm zone; small effect

Free workshop coming up

Marine Environment Classification launched

Building better offshore mussel farms

Where are the offshore minerals?

Marine Environment Classification launched

Marine Environment Classification launched

The leader of the National Centre for Coasts & Oceans, Dr Ian Wright, talks with the Minister, and with Dr Barry Carbon, Chief Executive of the Ministry for the Environment, at the launch.

‘Not only is the MEC a great tool; it is a strategic tool.’ Hon Marian Hobbs, Minister for the Environment.

The Minister for the Environment, Hon Marian Hobbs, formally launched New Zealand’s first Marine Environment Classification (MEC) last month.
Hailing the MEC as a world-class environmental management tool, the Minister said that be

Building better offshore mussel farms

Building better offshore mussel farms

Measuring mussel float motion by radar. The radar is equivalent to 30 police radars monitoring different points on the water surface.

Mussel farms near the shore face increasing space constraints, but building further offshore is not a matter of simply ‘beefing up’ an inshore mussel farm.
Existing large farms in areas like Golden Bay and the Firth of Thames are relatively sheltered.

Where are the offshore minerals?

Where are the offshore minerals?

Photo courtesy of Diamond Offshore Drilling.

Currently over 100 000 km2 of seafloor around New Zealand are permitted for hydrocarbon exploration. NIWA has been undertaking seafloor surveys for new gas pipelines to shore, and site surveys for oil-rig drilling operations. In recent months we have undertaken multibeam and high-resolution seismic surveys of the Kupe and Pohokura production sites and possible pipeline routes, and a site survey of the Tui development area for engineering evaluations.

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