News

The Ministry for the Environment has published this guidance document for local government organisations. A series of workshops is being planned for this winter to help implementation. The guidance document and some additional information can be found here.

The Waikato Regional Council and Coastal Restoration Trust are evaluating the use of digested koi carp in a range of products for positive environmental gains in community-based restoration initiatives. This projects has been funded by the Ministry for the Environment’s Community Environment Fund with support from Waikato Regional Council, local community Beach Care groups, and Coastal Restoration Trust research partners. This has included ongoing evaluation of digested koi carp as an organic fertiliser option for boosting performance of the native plants on dunes as part of dune restoration programmes:

• Incorporating koi carp pellets within the planting hole during planting;
• Comparison with the current fertiliser practice at planting using a slow-release fertiliser tablet;
• Evaluating the effects on a range of species including the sand binders spinifex and pingao, and mid-dune species pohuehue and wiwi;
• Evaluation of seaweed-derived fertiliser formulations developed by AgriSea as pellets applied in combination with koi carp or on its own; and 
• For pingao, fencing at the Port Waikato site to exclude rabbits which have been difficult to control and have compromised earlier trials.  

Initial post-planting survival assessment indicates favourable performance of the organic koi carp options as compared to the standard fertiliser regimes. A full first year assessment will be carried out this winter. Further fertiliser trial sites have been arranged for extending planting and fertiliser treatments.

The digested carp produce several components and by-products including a dry powder that can be pelletized, a nutrient-rich liquid (fish juice), and a lower-nutrient condensate. Other potential uses for koi carp were presented to the Coastal Restoration Trust’s Annual Conference held in Petone in March 2018.

Planning is well underway in setting up trials to evaluate potential uses for various formulations of digested koi carp that could be used by community groups. The uses being investigated include:

• Animal repellent – applied to foliage of palatable planted natives to deter browsing by rabbits (single largest killer of natives on dunes!) and other feral animals, inadvertent grazing by stock.
• Rodent bait – rodents are attracted to digested carp so excellent scope to manufacture moulded bait and chew cards as lures for control operations targeting rodents and mustelids to reduce predation of roosting and nesting birds, native skinks and invertebrates, and loss of seed crops of threatened natives.
• Nursery propagation – early trials indicate digested koi carp is an excellent additive to potting mix in the propagation of native, also potential liquid fertiliser. 
• Fungal and insect control – Various potential uses of condensate and fish juice in foliar protection of planted natives.
• Carbon/organic matter – preliminary investigation indicates bio-char from willows of the same waterways infested with carp can be mixed with digested koi carp to reduce the smell and boost carbon storage to mitigate expected impacts of climate change.

Dr Bruno David of the Waikato Regional Council has led the publication of a paper in the Journal of Applied Ecology - “The CarP-N neutral Project”: Removal, processing and reuse of invasive fish in local terrestrial conservation projects (Bruno David, Deniz Özkundakci, Michael Pingram, David Bergin and Michael Bergin 2018).

The paper presents two studies. The first study is based on early results from the current dune fertiliser trials as part of this Coastal Restoration Trust project and describes the use of processed invasive fish as a replacement for imported synthetic fertiliser tablets. The second is the potential use of invasive fish material as a lure in trapping programmes to control other introduced pests (e.g. introduced rats and mustelids) which will be further evaluated as part of this project.

A poster for display at conferences, workshops and Coast Care events has been produced on this koi carp project and can viewed on the Coastal Restoration Trust’s website www.coastalrestorationtrust.org.nz

Introduction

Over the last three years the Coastal Restoration Trust has been collaborating with a number of research partners developing methods for monitoring dune vegetation and profiles on our sand dunes. The aim was to provide easy-to-use monitoring guidelines for Coast Care groups, landowners and management agencies involved in restoration programmes on coastal dunes.

The project was funded by the Ministry for the Environment’s Community Environment Fund in collaboration with Coast Care and Beach Care groups, iwi and coastal landowners and with support from our research partners. These included Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Greater Wellington and Canterbury regional councils, the Christchurch City Council, Timaru District Council, the Department of Conservation, and Te Kohaka o Tuhaitara Trust in North Canterbury.

These monitoring guidelines along with a data management system are about to be launched on our website.

Monitoring guidelines

The basis of the dune monitoring method is the use of transects placed perpendicular to the coast sampling across the range of zones from foredune to landward. Key factors surveyed are vegetation cover, species composition and dune profile.

A proven Rapid-Point sampling method is used involving placement of a sample pole at fixed intervals along the transect tape and recording the uppermost species that intersects with the pole at each point.

A practical method has also been developed to map the contour of the dunes that can be matched to the survey of vegetation cover.

Sampling change in vegetation and dune form across these zones will provide an indication of the vegetation types and species in each zone. Re-measurement of these characteristics using consistent methods will show any changes that are occurring over time.

Managing your data

There is no point in accumulating data unless it is used to provide insights into firstly providing a baseline of what the dune and its vegetation characteristics are, and then with repeat surveys providing a meaningful comparison of change over time, especially if active management is occurring.

The Coastal Restoration Trust in collaboration with Cerulean Design and Development have developed an easy-to-use method for quantifying the vegetation cover and profile of sand dunes that can be undertaken by  anyone  from coast care groups to management agencies.

The data management system allows users to enter their own data that includes information on the location of their site, GPS locations of permanent landward datum points of each transect, bearing of transects seaward, and then vegetation and dune profile data from point sampling along transects.

Users can manage the entire monitoring operation from setting up dune transects, undertaking the field sampling, entering data into dedicated web-based forms, and viewing results of vegetation cover by species.

Keep an eye out for the launching of this new application that will be freely available on our website.

Back in March, just a few days before the Coastal Restoration Trust conference, Aidan McLean submitted his Masters thesis, after much hard work, some set backs and no small amount of lost sleep. The project was the culmination of a lot of support from a lot of different people. The Coastal Restoration Trust was a big part of this, with the financial contribution from the graduate research scholarship. This research project was very successful and the results will be written up for submission to the Journal Geology.

This thesis, titled: Histories and Mechanisms of Change in the Development of Shore Platforms at Kaikōura and Rodney, New Zealand: Application of Cosmogenic Nuclides and Numerical Modelling on Exposed Coastal Surfaces, is summarised in brief below.

Global sea level rise is contributing to the acceleration of cliff erosion rates in New Zealand, where it surpasses rates of uplift. A significant challenge facing scientists and managers is that we have no reliable method for determining past rates of coastal erosion along harder rock cliffs, over the time-scales that significant sea level change occurs (100s-1000s of years). This gap in knowledge is limiting efforts to model and understand the relationship between sea level rise and cliff erosion rates.

A methodology called Cosmogenic Beryllium-10 analysis (similar to the better-known method of radio-carbon dating) has been applied on two low angle shore platforms in New Zealand to determine the timing and speed of sea cliff erosion during the last 10,000 years. Work was conducted on a tectonically active platform at Kaikoura, Canterbury and an inactive platform at Cape Rodney, Auckland. This is the first application of this method to a shore platform study in New Zealand and adds two new data-sets to the very small group of global shore platform chronologies.

The analysis shows New Zealand shore platforms are young, having developed over the last few thousand years. Long-term platform surface erosion rates at Kaikoura (<0.2mm/year) were found to be significantly slower than modern erosion rates (>0.4mm/year), potentially due to uplift from earthquakes, driving up weathering rates on the tidally inundated platform due to their effect on sea level. The results at Okakari Point, Rodney, reveal a significant role of recent sea level fall after ~4000yrs before present, driving surface denudation (0.1mm/year). The long-term cliff erosion rate at Okakari point was found to be 24.66mm/year. Patterns in cosmogenic nuclide concentrations in New Zealand’s shallow platforms differ from global examples recorded on steeper platforms. Exploratory numerical modelling was applied with the coupled Rocky Profile CRN model to identify process relationships between key drivers within platform coastal systems and scenarios of sea level change and active tectonics.

This combined geochemical and numerical modelling study has shown that shore platforms in New Zealand have complex histories, with different potential driving forces at Kaikoura and Okakari. This highlights the local variability in platform development and cliff retreat, suggesting that estimates of future shoreline erosion will need to take local contingencies into account.

The Environment Foundation has relaunched its Environment Guide website www.environmentguide.org.nz.

The site is an on-line guide to assist individuals, community groups and businesses to more effectively participate in environmental management decision-making processes.

The Foundation has been supported by the NZ Law Foundation and the Environmental Defence Society in preparing the Guide.

“We have now fully updated the site to reflect recent amendments to the Resource Management Act and other environmental legislation,” said Environment Foundation Chair, Raewyn Peart.

“The Guide is written in plain English and is easy to use. It covers a wide range of environmental legislation and processes. For example, we have specific sections on freshwater, biodiversity, air, coastal/marine, landscape and climate change. We also include key sectors such as agriculture, fishing, horticulture and forestry.

“We’ve had terrific feedback on the website. It is widely used by individuals, businesses, community groups and students. It helps people to easily navigate what is becoming increasingly complex environmental law.

“The website is an important part of the Environment Foundation’s activities which focus on providing high quality environmental information and training so that New Zealander’s can participate more effectively in decisions affecting our natural environment. It is important that lay people can have access to environmental laws.

“The Foundation is a charitable entity and we are solely dependent on donors to support our work. We are currently looking for supporters to help fund the ongoing updating and management of the Guide,” concluded Ms Peart.