Researchers Return to Kapiti

30 April, 2013

Researchers Return to Kapiti

When the Kapiti Marine Reserve was established in 1992, one of the first jobs was to carry out a stocktake of the 2167 hectare area to see what was there.

The survey was carried out by University of Waikato Chair in Coastal Science, Professor Chris Battershill, who was then working for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).

It provided important baseline data for the reserve and Battershill says there was a notable absence of big fish in the reserve and species popular with people, such as crayfish, paua and kina were also rare while reefs in the reserve had only “patchy” kelp coverage.

Now, 20 years down the track, University of Waikato Research Fellow Phil Ross has gone back to see what’s changed. Ross, from the University’s Tauranga-based Environmental Research Institute, and a team of researchers, spent eight days diving in and around Kapiti in early April, surveying subtidal reefs for the Department of Conservation.

“DoC decided it’s been there for 20 years and we haven’t had a comprehensive look at it to get an idea about what’s happening with marine life and an idea of how the reserve is working,” Ross says.

Battershill missed out on the return trip but hoped to make it back to Kapiti in June for the next stage of the research, which will look at the health of creatures which live on rocks and inside kelp forests.

Ross says a lot of research has been done at other marine reserves, such as the Poor Knights Islands, Goat Island and Hahei “but not so much at Kapiti”.

“The research is not just how marine reserves work, but how oceans work when fishing is removed. We had a good look at fish, lobster and paua populations to see how they have responded to protection.”

Ross says while the data gathered during the survey has yet to be fully analysed, the team saw plenty of marine life.

“I got buzzed by a 1.2-1.5 metre kingfish and I saw the biggest butterfish and blue cod I’ve ever seen,” he says.

“There were a lot of paua, beautiful reefs, dense kelp forests. We saw very few kina but the kina we did see were huge, about 15cm across,” he says.

That indicates healthy fish populations, as “often when you take away the fish, urchin populations can explode”.

Battershill says repeating the original survey provided plenty of valuable information.

“It’s rare to get that long term data,” he says. “You can really start to see the changes.”

Ross hopes to present his findings at the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society Conference being held in Hamilton in August.

ENDS

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