Rena Recovery Newsletter - Issue 11

Introducing new Rena Recovery Manager Bruce Fraser

The Rena Recovery programme has a new manager following the departure of Catherine Taylor in April.

Bruce brings a wealth of local community knowledge to the role and was involved with coordinating the volunteer response in the early days of the Rena.

“Catherine has been a fantastic leader for the programme over the past 16 months and she has done a great deal to establish programmes across wildlife, the coastal environment, iwi engagement and research. I will be focusing on progressing these programmes and look forward to continuing to keep you updated,” Bruce said.

“As the demands on iwi liaison for the recovery programme have lessened we also farewell iwi liaison coordinators Lee Taingahue, Rangi Butler and Carlton Bidois. These people have been critical towards engaging with iwi as we have established programmes and implemented projects with advice and support from local iwi. I will be maintaining close links with iwi representatives as we progress the projects.”

In this month’s newsletter find out about deep sea rocky reef sampling, little blue penguin monitoring and an update on the owner’s work to clear plastic beads from shorelines.

Click here to download a pdf

Deep water sampling on rocky reefs

A team of researchers from Bay of Plenty Polytechnic have been researching the impacts of the Rena grounding on surrounding deep water rocky reefs near the Astrolabe Reef.

Immediately after the Rena grounded in October 2011, a dive team went out to survey offshore rocky reef sites. Twenty one sites were chosen which were close to the wreck and likely to be impacted by a potential oil spill.

Samples were taken from each of these sites, and ecological measurements were recorded prior to any oil spill, loss of debris or contaminants entering the waters. This preliminary information has been invaluable for further research, as it provides a picture of the state of the environment before any impact was felt

During the past year the Bay of Plenty polytechnic team has gone about re-visiting each site and also assessed rocky reefs and shallow sandy habitats that are close to oil-impacted beaches. All samples taken have been sent to laboratories for chemical analysis

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Marine Research Leader and Programme Coordinator Keith Gregor is leading this research. “As part of this research we have been able to sample a wide range of rocky reef systems in this area; this is really valuable information that has never been recorded in this way before,” he said

“There are some interesting patterns in the data but it also contains lot of variability.  We are awaiting  the final chemistry results but so far the ecological information collected has not indicated any obvious  impacts on the sub tidal rocky reefs close to the grounding.

The deep water rocky reef research project is part of the Rena Recovery Monitoring Programme which aims to research impacts on the Bay of Plenty coastal environment from the Rena.

For more information go to www.renarecovery.org.nz

ENDS

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