A better way to define the foreshore
New Zealand's icy visitors - past and present
International voyage to probe methane deposits
Customary Coastal Management Workshop
Estuary health check
A better way to define the foreshore
MHWS heights for the Bay of Plenty from NIWA’s model, relative to mean sea-level.
The Mean High Water Spring (MHWS) level is used as the dividing line between land and sea under both the Resource Management and Foreshore & Seabed Acts.
Customary Coastal Management Workshop
Karengo harvest at Mahia. (Photo: Sheryl Miller, NIWA)
21–22 June, Te Papa, Wellington.
NIWA’s National Centres for Coasts & Oceans and Fisheries & Aquaculture will host a workshop to highlight how increased scientific knowledge can advance customary management of the coastal environment.
Increasingly, iwi and managers of taiapure and mātaitai (traditional fishing grounds) have regulatory responsibilities for customary management of the coastal environment and kaimoana resources.
Estuary health check
Scientists from NIWA and Canterbury University are developing a diagnostic toolkit to assess the health of the Avon-Heathcote Estuary before and after a new wastewater outfall is installed.
Treated wastewater has been discharged into the estuary for about 40 years. The high levels of nutrients it contains may be responsible for problem blooms of sea lettuce in summer.
New Zealand's icy visitors - past and present
Scour marks of the seabed were probably made by an iceberg measuring between 2 and 5 km long.
November saw some unusual visitors to New Zealand waters, with several icebergs reaching the South Island’s east coast. NIWA oceanographer Dr Mike Williams estimated that the bergs probably came from the Ronne Ice Shelf on the other side of Antarctica.
International voyage to probe methane deposits
Onboard RV Sonne in Wellington. (Photo: Kate Whitley, GNS Science)
NIWA scientists joined colleagues from Europe, New Zealand, and Australia onboard the German research vessel RV Sonne last month to investigate methane deposits beneath New Zealand’s seafloor.
The three-month voyage will gather geophysical, geochemical, and biological data from methane seeps and hydrate deposits along the seafloor between Wellington and Gisborne.
