Professor Chris Battershill unveiled the Tiwaiwaka Ecological Corridors project, focusing on marine environments and connections between the land and sea. Photos / Tauranga City Council, Supplied
Professor Chris Battershill unveiled the Tiwaiwaka Ecological Corridors project, focusing on marine environments and connections between the land and sea. Photos / Tauranga City Council, Supplied
What happens on land doesn’t stay on land – and a new initiative in the Bay of Plenty aims to show why.
A research project aiming to map the pathways linking land, estuaries and the coastal marine environment in Tauranga Moana is under way.
It intends to change the waycommunities think about connections between land and sea.
The project was planned over three years and explores how actions on land strengthen ecosystems to support long-term environmental wellbeing.
“What we do on the land we do to the seas,” Battershill said.
Chris Battershill, University of Waikato professor and chair in coastal science. Photo / Supplied.
He and a team of research students will investigate how sediment, runoff and contaminants from catchments influence biodiversity, productivity and ecological health.
“At its core, this project connects science, community and place.”
The study focuses on habitats serving as nurseries for marine and freshwater species and assesses the role of artificial reefs in supporting biodiversity along modified channels.
“We’re using everything that we have in the toolbox.”
He said estuaries in Tauranga were vital “ecological corridors” but were increasingly under pressure.
“I look in horror at the cyclonic events around the world, and it’s happening here too, where you just see brown, really thick, muddy rivers running out to sea. It’s got to go somewhere.”
Battershill said the material eventually goes offshore and ends up on the deeper reef environments, where sediment does a lot of damage.
The manmade living seawall in Tauranga Harbour includes 100 seapods. Photo / Tauranga City Council.
“The wider community are probably unaware of just how much action on land then translates downstream into the sea.”
He said the new project intended to “join the dots”.
“It’s about making the invisible visible for people so they know we can all do better and live more sustainably.”
Local iwi, including Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Pūkenga and Ngāi Tamarāwaho, will participate in the project.
Landowners from Ngāpeke and Te Kapua Whakapipi Trusts are also involved.
Battershill said Tauranga was becoming a “hotspot” and well-known internationally because of engagement in enhancing the resilience of marine environments.
Deep Dive Division, which is a partner of the Tiwaiwaka Ecological Corridors project, deploying the artificial Peara Reef. Photo / Deep Dive Division
“We really are sitting in the perfect place to look at the reality of how we as people and communities engage with the marine environment.”
The Ecological Corridors project links previous research sites, including Peara Reef, where nine artificial reef systems were deployed in Tauranga Harbour.
It also includes the seapods along the CBD waterfront, which form part of a living seawall designed to encourage new marine life.
Further restoration projects at Turret Rd, Rangataua Estuary and Waimapu Estuary also form part of the research.
“We have a whole bunch of projects, and they should be linked, and that’s what we thought, we’re sitting on an amazing opportunity here,” Battershill said.
It is expected the project’s findings will inform restoration and sustainable land management efforts across Tauranga.
“By tracking the journey from land to sea, we can highlight pressures, identify opportunities for remediation and support evidence-based decision-making across Tauranga Moana.”
Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.
