Greetings
Welcome to our Northland Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Newsletter
This Newsletter and blog service aims to provide an easy to use format of regular contact with you about what is happening in marine protection and management in Northland.
You have previously been on one of our marine information contact lists. We are currently updating this list to assure we have correct contact details. We have created an electronic database/newsletter system which can send you news updates via email as well as post on a web blog site. At any time you can easily opt out of the newsletter system. Your subscriber information will remain secure and will not be shared with third parties.
The MPA Northland Newsletter will inform you of new information publications, research, monitoring reports and news about marine protection proposals and processes here in Northland. We are aiming to put out a number of information updates throughout the year.
Marine Conservation Work in Northland
Communities around Northland are interested in marine protection. Current projects underway with iwi/hapu and community based groups are expanding their activity and capacity all the time. This community based approach to marine management shows great promise as a way to address issues standing in the way of effective management and conservation. Department staff will be actively supporting local initiatives around marine protection in the coming year. If you want to know more about what is happening in your local area you can contact your local DOC Area office or Vince Kerr or Paul Buisson at the Conservancy office in Whangarei.
Our technical team in the Conservancy office have just released some significant reports and resources which we would like to share with you here.
Northland MPA Info Project
A marine habitat map has been completed for the area of coast out to the 12mile boundary from Mangawhai to Ahipara (version 1). The map book, the technical report and a poster are now available online from the DOC website.
Over the coming months GIS mapping resources created by this project will be handed over and presented to interested community groups, iwi and hapu. In the next stages of this project information layers will be developed that focus on the values of our marine environment and how we currently use the marine environment. This information should be valuable to any group in Northland looking at marine protection and management.
Marine Reserve and Reef Fish Monitoring
Our reef fish monitoring program was extended to Cape Karikari and North Cape last summer (2009) building on the existing long term data sets at Poor Knights Islands, Mimiwhangata and Cape Brett. This information is one of the best ways to we have of observing the changes that are occurring to our shallow reefs due to heavy local fishing pressure. This concern for our fished shallow reef systems is in stark contrast to the restoration of fish stocks that we are observing in our marine reserves. The latest report can be downloaded from the DOC web site.
That’s a brief look at some of the marine work our DOC team are involved in. We look forward to working with you to protect and restore our precious Northland marine environment.
Please feel free to contact us about this newsletter. marineinfo@doc.govt.nz
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http://mpanewsnorthland.wordjot.com/subscribe/
Regards
Vince Kerr (newsletter editor) Phone: 09 470 3346
Northland Conservancy Department of Conservation
