Key points
Environment Waikato monitors changes in the extent and distribution of different intertidal vegetated habitats in selected estuaries in the Waikato region. This information is based on interpretation of aerial photographs and field surveys. Currently this indicator covers eight estuaries on the Coromandel Peninsula and four estuaries on the west coast.
- Intertidal vegetation makes up a significant proportion of the total area of many of the estuaries on the Coromandel Peninsula. In comparison, intertidal vegetation makes up a much smaller proportion of the total area of estuaries on the west coast.
- Invasive exotic plants are also found in these estuaries.
- Note the different scale of percentage total area between the Coromandel and the west coast graphs.
Source: Environment Waikato
What agencies are doing
- Environment Waikato regularly monitors the extent, distribution and type of estuarine habitats in our region to update this indicator and to assist with policy making and resource consent decisions.
- Environment Waikato manages and requires the monitoring of resource consents for activities that affect the coastal marine area.
- We promote catchment management activities that protect estuarine and coastal ecosystems. We provide information including practical land management guidelines.
- Environment Waikato's Clean Streams project provides advice and financial support to encourage and support farmer efforts to reduce the impacts of farming on waterways through fencing and planting waterway margins.
- We support voluntary guidelines and codes of practice such as the New Zealand Fertiliser Manufacturers' Research Association’s Code of Practice for Fertiliser Use - aimed at minimising fertiliser run-off.
- We prohibit stock from the coastal marine area. The Proposed Waikato Regional Plan rules would prohibit livestock from waterways within 2 km upstream of mean high water springs.
- We support Care Groups. Their riparian management work such as planting and fencing helps decrease sediment and nutrient run-off to estuaries and the coast via streams and rivers.
- Coasts and Us school programmes have been initiated.
What you can do to help
- Don’t dump rubbish (including garden rubbish, which may include weeds) in our estuaries.
- Prevent pollutants getting into stormwater drains and flowing into our estuaries and coastal areas - wash your car, boat keels, motors and trailers on the grass, not on paved surfaces; fix oil leaks; don’t put petrol, paints, solvents, and garden chemicals down stormwater drains.
- Boat owners should dispose of rubbish and sewage on-shore, and maintain bilge pumps to reduce oil leaks.
- Fence out stock, so that they can’t graze or trample vegetation in estuaries. Saltmarsh, mangroves and seagrass can take a long time to recover.
- Plant or leave a buffer strip of plants along streams and at the edge of estuaries to help stabilise the banks and trap nutrients. These buffers act as a filter between land and waterways.
- Don’t plant exotic species in the coastal environment. Stock grazing and trampling may also contribute to the spread of these plants.
- Manage farm effluent and grazing carefully to prevent run-off into waterways.
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 the extent of coastal habitats is:
- Our coastal and waterway environments are restored and preserved and access to them is maintained.