Updates & EVENTS
SOUTH BAY BEACH ACTION PLAN / WORKSHOP / 27 APRIL 2021
Join the final workshop to assist in developing a beach action plan for South Bay, to help protect endemic species and restore coastal habitat. This workshop leads on from the second workshop held on 30 March 2021.
If you are interested in protecting species, habitat enhancement, restoring the environment, beach usage, and community values - please attend. These workshops are an opportunity for community engagement, with input and feedback being sought.
The workshop is being held at the Coastguard, 5-7pm on Tuesday 27th of April.
SOUTH BAY BEACH ACTION PLAN / WORKSHOP / 4 MARCH 2021
ECan will be holding its first workshop for the South Bay Beach Action Plan, from 5-7pm on 4 March 2021 at the South Bay Coastguard. While this hui intends to attract the wider community who are passionate about South Bay and its wildlife, the workshop is open to everyone.
This is the first workshop in a succession of 3 workshops to be held, before the unveiling of South Bay signage outputs. There will be a presentation from Shane Orchard (University of Canterbury) leading into the workshop session, looking at setting the scope of the project, the context of the wider South Bay ecosystem and its wildlife, existing mahinga kai values, and post-earthquake changes worth considering.
BANDED DOTTEREL GROUP & MINISTER OF CONSERVATION VISIT - FEBRUARY 2021
A public hui with the Minister of Conservation is to be held at 3pm at the Memorial Hall on 13 February 2021, followed by the ‘Nest 38’ film screening at the Mayfair Theatre. Ailsa Howard of the Banded Dotterel Study Kaikōura invited Conservation Minister Kiri Allan for a conservation focused event in relation to the plight of the threatened banded dotterel. The visit is facilitated by the Department of Conservation, involving engagement with local conservation groups and Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura. The Minister will be partaking in various activities, attending an Albatross Encounter tour, a Whale Watch trip with local representatives, visiting the Hutton's shearwater Te Rae o Atiu colony, and leading a community hui to engage on conservation issues. The hui will be followed by the screening of Nest 38, a documentary by filmmaker Tegan Good, highlighting the threats (cat predation and human disturbance) dotterels and other shorebirds face in coastal spaces.
KAIKŌURA DARK SKY RESERVE - FEBRUARY 2021
A public information evening for the proposed Kaikōura Dark Sky Reserve is scheduled at the Kaikōura Museum for 10 February 2021 at 6pm. The keynote speaker is John Hearnshaw (Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at University of Canterbury) and the guest speaker is Kyra Xavier (International Dark Sky Association - NZ Rep). The first working group meeting is to be held at Dolphin Encounter on 11 February 2021 at 9.30am.
BANDED DOTTEREL STUDY KAIKOURA - UPDATE - DECEMBER 2020
Preliminary results from the current banded dotterel breeding season highlight the loss of breeding pairs over the years, as well as ongoing reproductive failure, due to cat predation. Just two years ago in 2018, 25 banded dotterel pairs bred from the strip of beach between the Pohowera site to the Coastguard in South Bay. In 2020 the same area has seen a reduction of 40% in breeding birds, supporting only 15 pairs. Of the 43 nests at South Bay, only 3 managed to get hatched chicks out of the nest, a total of 7 chicks which were immediately predated by cats. 9 chicks were killed in the nest at hatching, with the additional loss of 2 adult birds. 38 of 43 nests have failed, and we currently have just 5 adults incubating eggs. To date complete nesting failure has been recorded at South Bay, with no chicks fledging.
Because there is an ongoing false narrative in the community that promotes that banded dotterels are doing well at Kaikōura sites, the coast from Gooches Beach to north of the New World supermarket was assessed with a thermal imaging scope. 3 chicks and 1 fledgling were recorded in this area, which is a very low number considering the number of pairs over this considerable stretch of beach - however it is a marginally better result than South Bay.
While this may show that nest mortality is somewhat lower on the northern beaches, there are points of concern: There is only 1 fledgling (there should be many), 2) the chicks are all reasonably small and are not guaranteed to survive to fledging, and 3) there were no multiple chick families. This overall trend has worrying implications for the dotterels (and other shorebird species) of Kaikōura, indicating that there is little reproductive success regardless of the site.
The monitoring study has proven with extensive camera footage and nest predation prints, that the primary predator to this species continues to be domestic and feral cats, resulting in high mortality and low to nil breeding output. These findings are irrefutable and we expect that these results are similar in the coastal species that are not being monitored (e.g. white-fronted tern, oystercatchers, red-billed gulls etc).
SHELLFISH & SEAWEED FISHERIES DISCUSSION MEETING - SEPTEMBER 2020
Te Korowai held a community hui on 28 September 2020 at the Kaikoura Racecourse Trotting Club Hall, to discuss post-earthquake reopening scenarios for shellfish and seaweed fisheries. Te Korowai has collated relevant information and options, with submissions to be received by 30 September 2020. The meeting was attended by many and we look forward to analysing community feedback.
You can view the meeting presentations from scientists and MPI here: http://kaikoura.org/tk/index.htm
COASTAL BIODIVERSITY AND FISHERIES RECOVERY - JUNE 2020
After the Te Korowai coastal recovery community meeting in December 2019, Cawthron’s Dr Robyn Dunmore processed the kina specific data from her subtidal data set to showcase the current state of this important species.
COASTAL RECOVERY - DECEMBER 2019
On 9 December 2019, Te Korowai and Fisheries New Zealand co-hosted a community discussion evening at the Kaikoura Parish Centre. This event was designed to update the community on the recovery of the coastal biodiversity and the paua fishery. The coastal invertebrate and seaweed fisheries have been closed for 3 years post-earthquake and we want to ensure we move forward with the same information for a flourishing future. Science and paua industry researchers presented their latest results and provided a broader context for long-term recovery. Together, with an informed community voice, we aim to ensure the coastal marine environment is flourishing into the future for generations to come.
ROYAL VISIT KAIKOURA - NOVEMBER 2019
Te Korowai members Rachel Vaughan (Chair) and Barry Dunnett (Forest & Bird rep) represented Te Korowai during Kaikoura’s Royal Visit - ‘The Future Is Bright’.
According to Barry, “Rachel was the show piece for the Te Korowai display, donning the blue korowai. Charles and Rachel discussed Kaikoura’s marine environemnt, and there was also an exchange about the polished paua shell Rachel offered HRH. My mind pondered what was most important about Te Korowai to convey to HRH in this brief exchange, and I talked about the way a concerned group of Kaikoura locals banded together to achieve some worthy marine conservation goals through an act of parliament - a very rare event in any community. I hope he was impressed. He certainly nodded and smiled in agreement, although I fear he suffered knowledge overload on the day.”
MAUI AND HECTOR’S DOLPHIN THREAT MANAGEMENT PLAN - JULY 2019
On 26 July 2019, Te Korowai co-hosted a community discussion evening with Fisheries New Zealand (FNZ) and the Department of Conservation (DOC) to address local issues with the draft DTMP. The evening included short presentations from Te Korowai Commercial Fishermen Representative (Peter Cleall), Community Representative (Mel Skinner), FNZ (Mark Geytenbeek and Ben Sharp), DOC (Ian Angus, Brett Cowen, and Andrew Baxter), Forest & Bird (Debs Martin), NZ Whale & Dolphin Trust (Dr Liz Slooten), and a local dolphin researcher (Dr Jody Weir). The evening was a great success with the collaborative process informing Te Korowai’s final submission of ‘Option Kaikoura’. View the videos from the evening on our Facebook page, read our submission, and stay tuned for the outcome.
