Shellfish Monitoring - Hauraki Gulf Forum Community Shellfish Monitoring

The programme supports a range of community and school groups to undertake monitoring and provides data on ecological health and the impacts of harvesting and other environmental pressures. The project works to ensure consistency in methodology, so that the results are comparable across the Gulf. Through the use of consistent methodology, the programme is generating a useful long term monitoring record, which supports (and in some cases, guides) long term monitoring programmes such as the MPI shellfish monitoring in the Hauraki Gulf. There are two monitoring sites in the Waikato Region, at Whitianga and Wharekawa estuaries. Surveys are undertaken at Whitianga in collaboration with the Mercury Bay Area School and at Wharekawa in collaboration with the Ecoquest Education Foundation. The HGF Community Shellfish Monitoring Programme was initiated in 2006 after a report was published on the decline of shellfish within the Hauraki Gulf , as an initiative to provide more data on the changes in abundances of important shellfish over time. The Hauraki Gulf Forum supports community shellfish monitoring at a number of sites in the Auckland and Waikato Regions. The programme is coordinated by a steering group made up of representatives from the Auckland and Waikato Regional Councils, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Department of Conservation.

Data is collected at all site using consistent methodology. Shellfish are counted and measured from evenly spaced sampling points along across shore transects, between the shore and low tide. The survey focuses primarily on cockle and wedge shell populations, which are both counted and measured. All other live shellfish and visible organisms are counted.

Wharekawa Estuary and Whitianga Estuary

Whitianga 2008 - 2014 Wharekawa 2010 - ongoing

The sediment is collected and sieved using 0.012 m2 quadrats, with 5 mm mesh. The sediment is excavated to a depth of approximately 100 mm. Live cockles are counted and measured, using a measuring instrument that places the shellfish in 5 mm size “bands”. All other live shellfish and visible organisms are noted and counted. Sampling methods are described in full in the HGF Survey Coordinator’s Guidelines (Hauraki Gulf Forum, 2009). Frequency of collection: Annual (February-April)

There will be some limitations associated with the inexperience of the students undertaking the work. This is minimised through supervision on the day. Data has been collected annually throughout the record. Occasionally a sampling site has been missed during a survey. Data quality is generally good. Sampling was undertaken by supervised secondary school students at Whitianga between 2008 and 2014, and by supervised tertiary students at Wharekawa. No monitoring was undertaken in Whitianga in 2015 and 2016. Monitoring resumed in 2017, and is now completed by intermediate (Year 7-8) students from the Mercury Bay Area School.

Data is available in electronic form and presented in annual progress reports. Digital Format: Data is stored in Excel worksheets.

Annual progress reports to council. Data is collected and analysed by the Ministry for Primary Industries and included in annual reports which present data from all monitoring sites in the Waikato and Auckland Regions.

No confidentiality.

Ongoing