Upgraded Kāpiti Island camera gives added security to marine reserve

Volunteer John Wraight (left) and Daniel Bar-Even, of Groundtruth, with the upgraded Arapawaiti Point camera.

Volunteers from the Guardians of Kāpiti Marine Reserve and local environmental monitoring company Groundtruth have installed a new and upgraded camera with a powerful 45x optical lens at the north end of Kāpiti Island during the summer break.

"The upgraded camera monitoring station above Arapawaiti Point at the north end of Kāpiti Island is one of the four stations in the Kāpiti Katiaki camera network," Guardians chairman and project lead Ben Knight said.

"We also added some additional equipment to the Onepoto station to improve the performance of that station.

"There are four stations in the network at present, all are located at sites around the island that overlook the Kāpiti Marine Reserve.

"Each station consists of a high-resolution point, tilt, zoom (PTZ) camera with 45x optical zoom, solar panels, batteries and a mobile data or radio-based internet connection.

"The network can be accessed remotely by compliance staff from the Department of Conservation and fisheries officers from the Ministry of Primary Industries, as well as trained volunteers from the Guardians of Kāpiti Marine Reserve.

"The upgraded cameras and other improvements we've made to the network over the summer break greatly improve the capability of the network as well as improving the reliability of some of the stations.

"This provides our volunteers and DoC and MPI staff with enhanced visual monitoring capabilities for the marine reserve and wider marine area, strengthening the management of this hidden jewel in the Kapiti Island crown, and acts as a deterrent to illegal fishing within the reserve."

The project has been made possible with funding and donations from the US Embassy, Wellington Community Trust, DoC as well as donations from generous locals.

The project is led by the Guardians in collaboration with local environmental company Groundtruth.

"The Guardians are incredibly grateful for all the funding this project has received as well as the ongoing technical expertise and project management support provided by Dan and the team from Groundtruth," Knight added.

"Without all of the generous support we receive this project would not be possible."