Northland Webinar To Give Update On Battle Against Invasive Seaweed Caulerpa
More than 300 people are expected to attend New Zealand's first major online caulerpa webinar tomorrow, Tuesday 27 May, evening.
The groundbreaking Northland-focused online caulerpa hui had 343 registrations and counting on Monday, May 26, morning in what has become a webinar of significant and increasing size.
It has been organised by Northland's Conquer Caulerpa Trust.
Conquer Caulerpa chair Verdon Kelliher said the event aimed to update participants on the region's efforts to fight the invasive superspreader exotic seaweed.
Biosecurity New Zealand director pest management and the Government's national caulerpa response manager John Walsh will be among those speaking at the hui.
He will be there along with Northland Regional Council chair Geoff Crawford, exotic caulerpa national advisory group Tai Tokerau Northland representative Natasha Clarke and Kelliher.
Ngāti Kuta trustee Glenys Papuni will speak about the caulerpa fight partnership mahi her Te Rāwhiti hāpu is involved with.
Kelliher said topics addressed would include the latest on where caulerpa has been found in Northland.
Participants would also be updated on caulerpa elimination efforts.
Kelliher said the webinar had been organised to address the most commonly-asked questions about invasive caulerpa and efforts to fight it in Northland.
New technologies being developed in Northland and nationally include a large industrial-scale underwater tractor unit, ultra-violet light treatment and a movable underwater chlorine treatment chamber.
New Zealand's first commercial rapid response caulerpa dive squad recently started surveying for the seaweed and new elimination efforts.
Caulerpa was first confirmed in Northland in 2023 at the major boating anchorage of Omākiwi Cove at Te Rāwhiti.
The Omākiwi Cove infestation is New Zealand's only mainland caulerpa infestation.
MPI deputy director general Stuart Anderson said at the time of the seaweed's Omākiwi Cove and surrounds find that the Bay of Islands caulerpa infestation was a sizeable problem.
as efforts to get on top of the pest continue.
Hundreds of people rushed to clear Omākiwi Cove and adjacent Whiorau Bay beaches after 500 tonnes of caulerpa washed up over Easter during ex-Tropical Cyclone Tam.
New Zealand has recently been warned invasive caulerpa threatens a $9.4b hit.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
5 days ago
- RNZ News
The story behind Te Tai Tokerau trust's Ahuwhenua Trophy win
farming te ao Maori 43 minutes ago The Ahuwhenua Trophy is one of the most prestigious and contested awards for Maori farming. It dates back to 1933 and was established by Sir Apirana Ngata and the Governor General at the time, Lord Charles Bledisloe. This year the Northland-based Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust was awarded the trophy for excellence in Maori sheep and beef farming. Morris Pita is the co-chair of Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust, he speaks to Jesse about the honour.
RNZ News
7 days ago
- RNZ News
Mangawhai risks $100 million economic disaster if sandspit fails: warning
Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society dredge operator Mark Vercoe on the sandspit where the barge in the background pumps sand along the black pipe beside him, to keep the harbour open and build up the protective sand dune barrier known as a bund wall that protects the sandspit from harbourside-generated erosion. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland Mangawhai sandspit has recently been confirmed to have lost more than 420,000 tonnes of its locally-unique non-replenishing sand . Many in the community worry about its future as a result. Mangawhai sandspit is described as "a hotbed of coastal management considerations" by a University of Auckland academic. The rare landform is one of just five drumstick-shaped sandspits in New Zealand. Its sand was predominantly made hundreds of thousands of years ago from volcanic explosions in the central North Island, delivered by the Waikato River. It's at the epicentre of competing tensions between seabed sand mining, local and central government bureaucracy, New Zealand's rarest bird, community groups, conservation, harbour health, mana whenua, population growth, tourism, recreation and development. In the first of a two-part feature, Local Democracy Reporting Northland reporter Susan Botting looks at what sort of health report card those connected with the rare landform give it. New Zealand's fastest-growing coastal settlement risks a more than $100 million economic disaster if Mangawhai Sandspit fails, a community leader warns. The stark warning is from community group Mangawhai Matters member Dr Phil McDermott, a former Massey professor of resource and environmental planning. A second breach of the sandspit where sea washed in from the Pacific Ocean would hit the economy on many fronts, he says. McDermott was among a range of community leaders, councils, coastal experts and government organisations who raised their fears for the spit's future with Local Democracy Reporting Northland. They have overwhelmingly given the spit's health a bare pass of C report card, pointing to a range of reasons. Rising sea levels and intensifying storms are among the issues sounding warning bells. Community group leaders Mangawhai Matters' Dr Phil McDermott (left) and chair Doug Lloyd say the settlement's iconic sandspit is highly valued by the local community Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland McDermott said the economic hit would be from plummeting property values, disappearing tourism, and fewer visitors. "There are so many pressures including significant development," McDermott said. Mangawhai Matters has successfully legally challenged unfettered Mangawhai development. The sandspit breached in 1978 after a huge storm. The resulting 600 metre channel split the three kilometre long, 3 square kilometre spit in half for more than a decade. The breach led to today's main northern harbour entrance filling up with sand as Mangawhai Harbour discharged via a new exit point to the sea. Renegade action by the local community known as "the Big Dig" opened the channel. Looking east across Mangawhai sandspit where sand from adjacent Mangawahi Harbour is piped onto prescribed locations under a formal Department of Conservation concession. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland The blockage led to stagnating harbour water. House prices fell and properties weren't selling. Banks in some cases did not want to provide mortgage lending. Work to open the blockage and close the breach finally started in 1991. Mangawhai Sandspit's at the epicentre of competing tensions between seabed sand mining, local and central government bureaucracy, New Zealand's rarest bird, community groups, conservation, harbour health, mana whenua, population growth, tourism, recreation and development. Mangawhai Matters community group chair Doug Lloyd said surveying showed the harbour and sandspit were rated the most important feature of their local area. When Lloyd arrived in Mangawhai in 1989 there were about 600 people there. Now there are up to 20,000 over the summer peak. And there are more than 2000 new houses on the cards in several big developments. Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society chair Peter Wethey. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society (MHRS)'s Peter Wethey chairs the community group credited by many as having had a key role in the spit surviving to the degree it has. The society runs New Zealand's only dredging operation of its type, sucking up sand blown into the sea from Mangawhai Sandspit and putting it back onto the rare coastal landform. Wethey said the dredging was about keeping the harbour's ever-filling navigation channels open and protecting the spit with an about 800 metre long harbourside bund - effectively a man-made sand dune strip edging to protect it from future breaching. Longtime MHRS dredge operator Mark Vercoe said the process of sustainably delivering sand from the harbour floor to the prescribed location, that continued to strengthen spit protection, was an exacting one. Just over 5000 Kaipara District Council (KDC) Mangawhai Harbour catchment ratepayers pay $80 annually towards the society for its work. Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson said that money was well spent to protect the spit, echoing many in the community by saying the group had to navigate significant bureaucracy to do its work. Jepson said he believed too much of the society's funds and time were being wasted on bureaucracy when they were better spent on taking action. Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society pumps sand from the local harbour back onto the spit each year. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland Northland Regional Council (NRC) governs consenting for the dredge's sand extraction with up to 50,000 cubic metres of sand dredgings allowed annually. More recently that quantity was not fixed but instead dependent on location and dredging depth. Dredging must take place between April and December each year, depending on where it happens and the values of those locations - outside the fairy tern breeding season. DoC rules on where the dredgings can go on the spit. DoC acting operations manager - Whangārei Sarah Newman-Watt, said the Mangawhai government wildlife refuge reserve was protected for its ecological significance, particularly for its critical nesting habitat for New Zealand's fairy tern/tara-iti and northern dotterel. She said the sandspit was the country's largest tara-iti breeding site with fewer than 45 individuals left. Fairy Tern Trust convenor and Mangawhai property owner of three decades Heather Rogan said the spit was critical for the bird's future. It was currently home to all but one of New Zealand's tara-iti nesting sites. University of Auckland coastal geomorphologist Professor Dr Mark Dickson said it was about how well the spit would do its job of protecting the Mangawhai community. The work of the community was essential. Mangawhai Sandspit's man-made, but looking quite natural, protective 800m long bund wall on the sandspit's western harbour shores. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter Northland Thousands of sand dune plants, kilometres of sand fencing to trap sand, pest control work and dredgings from the harbour going onto the sandspit towards maintaining its resilience are among this work. Dickson said the spit would undoubtedly breach again if left to its natural cycles without this community input. "The spit's not quite holding its own. It requires quite a level of intervention," Dickson said. Save Our Sands spokesperson Ken Rawyard gave the spit a D health report card. He said DoC was prohibiting the re-establishment of critical vegetation cover on the spit due to concerns about the fairy tern. Newman-Watt said this was not the case. It was actively encouraging the re-establishment of appropriate dune vegetation - where it supported the sandspit's health and resilience and did not conflict with conservation goals. Fairy terns needed open shell patches with very little to no vegetation for nesting. "At known nesting sites, DoC removes or limits vegetation to preserve these rare habitat conditions," Newman-Watts said. Mangawhai sandspit was a dynamic system that required careful, site-specific management. NRC local coastal south councillor Rick Stolwerk acknowledged there were processes that needed to be navigated before the dredging began. He said the spit was not faring as well as it could, but community members were doing great work. Te Uri o Hau Environs representative Cindy Hempsall did not want to comment on Mangawhai sandspit when approached by Local Democracy Reporting Northland. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Otago Daily Times
13-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Anzac Ave width tussle
A view along the intended route of the new highway to Logan Park (later named Anzac Ave), to continue the line of the road in the foreground through the terrace houses, to pass to the right of the then-new Nees furniture building. Note the latter advertised on the terrace end gable. — Otago Witness, 21.7.1925 Worthy is the lamb The Works Committee of the City Council will present a report on Wednesday evening stating that the matter of the Harbour Board's offer to provide land for increasing the width of the highway has been the subject of negotiations with the Harbour Board. The offer was a conditional one in that the council was required to pay full compensation for both land and buildings for that section of the highway between Frederick street and Station street. It was pointed out to the board that since the inception of the negotiations no question of compensation for land had ever been raised and that, as a matter of fact, the survey plan which provides for the giving of the land for the 75-foot road without any compensation had already been executed by the board. The board has now replied to the effect that its decision is adhered to, and that the land required must be paid for by the council if Station street is to be widened beyond 66 feet. The New Zealand Meat Producers' Board received a report from its London manager that delivery of carcases of prime New Zealand lamb for the Easter season were completed, and several hundred letters have reached him testifying to the quality and splendid condition in which the lambs arrived. New street names The City Council Works Committee proposes that the under-mentioned names for new streets be adopted. New street off Sunbury street, Wilson's subdivision, Anderson's Bay: Woodside terrace. New street in McFadden's subdivision at Opoho: Grandview crescent. New street of workers' homes, Mill Reserve: Leithbank street. On a roll Of the 21,749 pupils on the roll at the close of the year (states the annual report of the Otago Education Board), 6073 (28 percent) were under eight years of age, 4928 (23 percent) were between eight and 10 years, 4944 (23 percent) were between 10 and 12 years, 4555 (21 percent) were between 12 and 14 years, and 1249 (5 percent) were over 14 years. There were on the rolls at the end of the year 11,306 boys and 10,443 girls, the percentages being boys 53, girls 48. The average attendance for the year was 20,210. 61 females and 36 males entered the teaching profession in this district. There were 837 teachers, compared with 823 for the previous year; 633 adult teachers, 204 pupil teachers and probationers and special teachers (needlework, manual training, etc). There were 258 schools in operation — the same as in the previous year. Dickens for Dunedin The Library Committee states that a special letter of thanks has been sent to Miss Smith, of Roslyn, for a very valuable donation, which includes an incomplete set of Dickens, amongst which are 13 first editions with the well-known illustrations by Phiz, R. Seymour, H.K. Browne, George Cattermole, and H. Browne. The volume containing the "Christmas Carol" has the original illustration in colour by John Leech. These volumes are the first editions of the work© of Charles Dickens to be issued in book form. The donation also includes a first edition set of Macaulay's "History of England," in five volumes, and the first six years of the Cornhill Magazine, 1860-1865. — ODT, 15.6.1925 Compiled by Peter Dowden
