News

Our scholarship committee was very pleased to announce the winner of the Coastal Restoration Trust Post Graduate Scholarship for 2024 at the recent conference held in Kāwhia.

The scholarship was awarded to Sanne Vaassen, a PhD candidate at Waikato University who presented her research at the conference.

The aim of her PhD research is to better understand how different estuarine vegetative species in coastal ecosystems compete for space and how the distribution of their habitats will change as a result of sea level rise in the coming decades. Specifically, she is focusing on saltmarsh and mangrove systems and how these shape estuarine morphology and attenuate waves and currents. Better understanding of these processes will offer valuable knowledge which can be used in coastal management and restoration decision making. Sanne’s research is supported by Future Coasts Aotearoa.

Congratulations Sanne! We look forward to further updates in your future research.

A collaboration between scientists at The Coastal Restoration Trust and Janet Andrews and Simon Hoyle from Southlight Studios has produced a series of videos on coastal processes

Hosted by the Historical Society of Eastbourne, Janet & Simon presented some of the CRT videos to over 50 people. Living on the shores of Wellington harbour, locals were keen to learn about coastal processes and find out more about the Coastal Restoration Trust.

In 2019, an Estuarine Vulnerability Assessment (EVA) was carried out by Robertson Environmental to guide the development of a new estuary monitoring programme.
To provide a representative assessment, 20 sites were included. This included the region’s larger estuaries north and south of the ring plain, as well as a number of smaller
stream mouths where tidal intrusion was marginal but may occasionally occur. Three main outputs were provided for each estuary: a habitat map, a vulnerability rating and
recommendations for future monitoring.

Overall vulnerability to the effects of sedimentation and eutrophication was determined to be ‘high’ in five estuaries, ‘moderate to high’ in another five, ‘moderate’ in nine and ‘minimal’ in one. Where the vulnerability of an estuary was ‘high’ or ‘moderate to high’, this was largely due to the effects of sedimentation rather than eutrophication. This was the case for seven of the 20 estuaries assessed, namely. Mōhakatino, Tongaporutu, Urenui, Mimitangiatua, Waitara, Pātea and Waitōtara.

Vulnerability to sedimentation was generally attributed to high sediment loads from the catchment, and the high proportion of soft mud cover in the estuary that was mapped during the condition assessment. Eutrophication was considered less of an issue. What we know in these estuaries due to them being well flushed, with no primary symptoms such as macroalgae and/or phytoplankton blooms identified during the condition assessments.

Vulnerability to eutrophication effects was ‘moderate to high’ for three estuaries, the Whenuakura, Oakura and Katikara. The latter two were the only estuaries where
symptoms of eutrophication, in the form of phytoplankton blooms, were recorded. Other estuaries, such as the Whenuakura, were considered susceptible to eutrophication
due to large areas of intertidal habitat which can support macroalgal blooms, high catchment nutrient loads, and where they were poorly flushed or restricted at the mouth.

To read more about estuaries in general and detail about the results of the survey go here.

All New Zealanders can adapt to the locked-in effects of climate change. The sooner we act, the more effective that action will be.

The Ministry for the Environment is inviting your feedback on this plan. It has been put together so we can minimise the damage from a changing climate. We want to hear about how climate change is affecting you, potential impacts you are concerned about, actions you are taking and what other actions are needed.

Webinars and workshops on this are available and feedback needs to be submitted by 3 June 2022.

Go to the MfE website for more information.

Our scholarship committee was very pleased to announce the winner of the Coastal Restoration Trust Post Graduate Scholarship for 2024 at the recent conference held in Kāwhia.

The scholarship was awarded to Sanne Vaassen, a PhD candidate at Waikato University who presented her research at the conference.

The aim of her PhD research is to better understand how different estuarine vegetative species in coastal ecosystems compete for space and how the distribution of their habitats will change as a result of sea level rise in the coming decades. Specifically, she is focusing on saltmarsh and mangrove systems and how these shape estuarine morphology and attenuate waves and currents. Better understanding of these processes will offer valuable knowledge which can be used in coastal management and restoration decision making. Sanne’ s research is supported by Future Coasts Aotearoa.

Congratulations Sanne! We look forward to further updates in your future research.