PROJECTS /
Restoring Flourishing Coastal Ecosystems
Project Summary
Kelp is vital for ocean ecosystems to flourish, creating habitats for marine life and is hugely efficient at fixing carbon.
50% of the kelp forest on shallow reefs around Hauturu-o-Toi Little Barrier Island are now kina barrens
Active restoration efforts have shown ‘resetting the system’ can accelerate kelp forest regeneration by up to 20-30 years, with kelp returning in just 2 years.
Photo Credit / Project Kahurangi
REGROWING KELP FORESTS IN THE HAURAKI GULF
While the Hauraki Gulf is beautiful from the surface, below the waterline the ecosystem is in crisis.
Kelp is vital for ocean ecosystems to flourish, creating habitats for marine life and is hugely efficient at fixing carbon. However, many coastlines which were once home to vast forests of kelp, now lie bare, thriving reef ecosystems replaced by kina (sea urchin) barrens.
In the Hauraki Gulf, scientists say the loss of large snapper and crayfish through over-fishing means kina are now grazing down the kelp beds at an alarming pace, without their natural predators to keep them in check. Areas that were previously dense in kelp are now barren. However, kelp beds can be restored and the flourishing beds within the Goat Island marine reserve are a shining local example.
“Our research is examining the role of marine protection and restoration in allowing kelp forests to bloom, and their associated marine life to return and flourish.”
Nick Shears
University Of Auckland
OUR IMPACT
Live Ocean Foundation is supporting a multi-year project by the University of Auckland’s Dr Nick Shears to understand both the scale of the problem and what happens when the kina are removed from barrens within Tīkapa Moana The Hauraki Gulf.
So far ‘resetting’ the system has shown it can accelerate the regeneration of kelp forests by up to 20-30 years, with kelp returning in just two years.
These findings could be very significant for new areas of marine protection, where kina removal could significantly accelerate habitat restoration.
Timeline
1994
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Dr Kath Walker and Dr Graeme Elliott’s first expedition to the Antipodes islands, these research trips continue for nearly 30 years (barring 2006) giving an incredibly robust data set.
2006
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Dr Kath Walker and Dr Graeme Elliott’s first expedition to the Antipodes islands, these research trips continue for nearly 30 years (barring 2006) giving an incredibly robust data set.
2019
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Dr Kath Walker and Dr Graeme Elliott’s first expedition to the Antipodes islands, these research trips continue for nearly 30 years (barring 2006) giving an incredibly robust data set.
2020
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Dr Kath Walker and Dr Graeme Elliott’s first expedition to the Antipodes islands, these research trips continue for nearly 30 years (barring 2006) giving an incredibly robust data set.
2024
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Dr Kath Walker and Dr Graeme Elliott’s first expedition to the Antipodes islands, these research trips continue for nearly 30 years (barring 2006) giving an incredibly robust data set.
Dr Nick Shears
Associate Professor, University of Auckland
Dr. Nick Shears is a specialist in rocky reef ecology and marine conservation. He completed his PhD investigating the ecological effects of fishing on kelp forest ecosystems at the University of Auckland’s Leigh Marine Laboratory. After a three year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California Santa Barbara where he studied the effects of the Channel Islands Marine Reserve Network on kelp forest ecosystems, Nick returned to Leigh and is now Associate Professor in the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Auckland. His research focuses on the impact of humans on rocky reef ecosystems, including the effects of fishing, sedimentation and climate change, and the role of marine protected areas and restoration in maintaining healthy marine ecosystems.
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