• Key points
  
• What agencies are doing
  
• What you can do to help
  
• More information
  
• What we want to achieve
  

Key points

Environment Waikato monitors communities of bottom-dwelling (benthic) marine animals, such as shellfish, marine worms and crabs, which live in the areas of estuarine sand and mud flats exposed at low tide. We monitor the benthic communities in two estuaries, the southern Firth of Thames (five sites), and Whaingaroa (Raglan) Harbour (five sites). Information on changes in these animal communities helps to tell us about the health of our estuaries.

• In Whaingaroa (Raglan) Harbour, the number of taxa_¹ found at each site ranged from�20 at Haroto Bay to 33 at Okete Bay. In the southern Firth of Thames, numbers ranged from 20 at Te Puru, to�29 at Kaiaua.
• Shellfish (bivalves) and marine worms were the two most common groups of animals found.
• Other groups of animals found included snails, limpets, crabs and other crustaceans (such as amphipods).
• The graphs below show the total number of taxa found at each monitoring site over time².

Source: Environment Waikato

What agencies are doing

• Environment Waikato regularly monitors benthic communities in our region’s estuaries to update this indicator and assist with policy making and resource consent decisions.
• Environment Waikato manages and requires resource consents for activities that affect our coastal marine areas.
• We promote catchment management activities that protect estuarine and coastal ecosystems. This includes Environment Waikato’s Clean Streams Project. We provide information including practical land management guidelines.
• We support voluntary guidelines and codes of practice such as the New Zealand Fertiliser Manufacturers’ Research Association Code of Practice for Fertiliser Use – aimed at minimising fertiliser runoff.
• We prohibit stock from accessing fragile parts of our coastal marine areas.
• We support Care groups. Their riparian management work, such as planting and fencing helps decrease sediment and nutrient runoff to estuaries and the coast from streams and rivers.
• We have a ‘Coasts and Us’ school resource kit.

What you can do to help

• Don’t dump rubbish in our estuaries – dispose of all rubbish correctly by taking it to a landfill or refuse transfer station for recycling.
• Boat owners should dispose of rubbish and sewage from boats onshore, and maintain bilge pumps to reduce oil leaks.
• Know the fisheries regulations that apply to how many animals (such as shellfish and crabs) you can harvest – some areas are totally closed and no harvesting is allowed.
• Prevent pollutants from getting into stormwater drains and flowing into our estuaries and coastal areas by:
• washing your car, boat keels, motors and trailers on the grass, not on paved surfaces
• fixing any oil leaks from your car or boat
• not putting petrol, paints, solvents or garden chemicals down stormwater drains.
• Reduce the effects of land management practices on our estuaries by:
• planting or leaving a buffer strip along streams and at the edge of estuaries to help stabilise the banks and trap nutrients – these act as a filter between land and waterways
• managing farm effluent and grazing to prevent runoff into waterways
• forming a Care group to discuss and carry out better catchment management practices to protect our estuaries.

More information

More detail on this indicator, including how and where this information is collected, is available here.

What we want to achieve

The community outcome we are seeking to achieve by monitoring coastal biology is:

• Our coastal and waterway environments are restored and preserved and access to them is maintained.