Long Bay Okura Great Park Society AGM, May 25, 3pm

Venue:  MERC Education & Recreation Centre - Beach Road, Long Bay 

OUR MARINE RESERVE IS UNDER THREAT 

To find out more about this concern we'd love to see you at the Long Bay Okura Great Park Society's AGM.

Guest speakers: Drs Rebecca Gladstone-Gallagher and Jenny Hillman, University of Auckland will talk about the changes that are occurring in our local marine environment.

 “The Hauraki Gulf (HG) is a wonderful place, it’s the thing that really makes Auckland special. Home to abundant and diverse marine life, the HG ecosystem delivers many benefits to society and our economy. However, our activities are threatening this ecosystem and the estuaries in the HG have been at the forefront of these impacts for at least the last 70 years. Changes in land uses have resulted in the muddying of many estuaries in the HG. The delivery of land-based soil into estuaries is one of the most pervasive and persistent stressors - it smothers the seafloor, blocks light to the seabed and clogs the feeding structures of animals. Over time, it changes sandflats into mud and leads to coastal darkening. Of course, all this change occurs in combination with many other stressors (e.g., shellfish overharvesting, nutrient runoff, climate change), and these lead to cumulative effects which are challenging to manage but often increase the risk of tipping points. When that happens, we lose the very life-supporting capacity of the ecosystem and the downstream benefits to people.

To assess the risks to estuaries, we really need to understand the subtle changes in the ecosystem that are early warning signals of tipping points. We have been doing research to understand how stressors, such as the muddying of estuaries, fundamentally shift the functioning of these critical ecosystems. This is a national problem, but local too. The Ōkura estuary/Long Bay area has borne the brunt of these impacts and resulted in Environment Court cases to ensure that development is constrained and low risk. However, monitoring in the area shows decline in the marine reserve’s ecology. We want to talk about the scientific evidence of change, its implication to the ecosystem, and how we can link this to land management most effectively to put the reserve on to a trajectory of recovery. This means focusing on building resilience into the future.”

Membership and donations

To continue our work, the Long Bay Okura Great Park Society needs your support. Please consider paying membership of $20/family $30 or a donation by Credit Card through our website longbaypark.org.nz, or by Internet Banking 12-3053-0467134-00 .

Would you like to join our Governance board?

Please contact Bruce Usher for further information via our contact us page on this website.

Thank you to all our loyal supporters - we can make a difference.