TE RŪNANGA O NGĀTI AWA
Kaitiakitanga
Guardianship for future generations
Customary Fisheries Report Mussel restoration in Ōhiwa Harbour In 2016 Dr Kura Paul-Burke surveyed the mussel beds in the harbour and found an alarming decline in mussel numbers and bed extents since previous surveys. The sudden decline was largely attributed to seastar predation. Kura then put together a plan to trial methods of re-establishing mussels in the harbour. The use of cages that this plan involved required a resource consent. This was granted in July last year and the implementation of the plan in October. The project is co-funded by BOP Regional Council and Taihoro Nukurangi (NIWA). The aims are to assess: • Whether mussel spat from Ohiwa can be collected on lines in the harbour. • Whether relocated mussels survive and recruit on the bottom. • Whether cages provide respite from seastar predation. • Options for assisting mussel restoration and replication on a large scale. Kura reported back to the Ohiwa Harbour Implementation Forum (OHIF) on the progress of the trial. At that time: • Mussels relocated from mooring chains to the cages did re-establish on the harbour bed. • Seastars did eventually find their way into the cages to predate the mussels.
TE RŪNANGA O NGĀTI AWA | ANNUAL REPORT 2019
• Wild mussel spat did establish on both artificial and natural fibre spat lines.
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• A Master of Marine Science Student, Megan Ranapia, has been seconded to develop a Habitat Suitability Index for shellfish restoration. • A funding proposal, co-developed with Upokorehe and Ngāti Awa has been made to the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge, Sustainable Seas, Awhi Mai-Awhi Atu. The application to Sustainable Seas has since been successful and a Putea of $1.2million has been allocated to this project to cover research into the cause of mussel decline in Ohiwa Harbour. Kura and her team are continuing to monitor the spat lines and cages and will update OHIF on progress from time to time.
