Coastal and Marine Projects
The Firth of Thames Ramsar Site
Photo Credit: Nigel Milius
Ten kilometres south of the EcoQuest Field Centre is the northern boundary of the Firth of Thames Ramsar Site. The Ramsar site covers a total of 8,500 ha of inter-tidal mudflats. Four large rivers and many small streams feed the estuarine wetland. This wetland of international importance is used by tens of thousands of arctic- and domestic migratory waders. The site is also part of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. More than half of the entire population of the endemic wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis) over-winters at Miranda (the species breeds in the South Island). Studies by EcoQuest students contribute information to the nearby Miranda Shore Bird Centre (www.miranda-shorebird.org.nz ), where researchers come from all over the world to observe and study the huge influx of spring, summer and autumn migratory waders.
Aquaculture in the Hauraki Gulf
Early studies (1999 & 2000) focused on the local scallop fishery, which is threatened by increased silt and runoff from the Hauraki Plains, where agriculture is the predominant land use. The emphasis was on scallop growth rates and recruitment, the impacts of predation by starfish and an invasion of competing polychaete worms. Students also have researched growth rates of green-lipped mussels (Perna calliculata), a significant export species unique to New Zealand. Important issues include the successful settlement of mussel spat, the effects of fouling organisms on the mussel lines and the impact of mussel farming on the benthic fauna. Comparative studies between mussel farms of different ages and in ecologically diverse locations explored differences in the abundance of benthic organisms and species composition of communities directly beneath musselfarms. Marine farming is a contentious issue in New Zealand, and provides opportunities for policy related DRPs.
