New and upgraded NIWA Satellite Data Services
Using line fishing to count fish
Culture of the native red seaweed Gigartina atropurpurea
Oyster feasts and famines - food for thought
Growing sponges in New Zealand
Snapper tagging release phase complete
New manager for Mahanga Bay
Bream Bay is now up and running
Hon. Pete Hodgson and Gerda Kuschel (NIWA’s Auckland Regional Manager) admiring kingfish at the Bream Bay Aquaculture Park opening
At the official opening, the 200 guests, including Government ministers, regional and district councillors, key Maori organisations, and fishing and aquaculture industry representatives, were welcomed onto the site by Patuharakeke Te Iwi Trust.
Workshop participants with Michael Sigler (standing) fifth from right.
In several important New Zealand fisheries relative abundance may not be adequately indexed by fishery catch and effort data.
Dr Philip Heath has been appointed manager of NIWA’s Mahanga Bay Aquaculture Facility, Wellington, where his main role will be to work with Simon Hooker (Aquaculture Business Development Manager) on the development of industry-backed projects. The appointment underlines NIWA’s commitment to supporting the development of the New Zealand aquaculture industry.
NIWA’s Sea Surface Temperature web service has been revised and improved. It now offers:
a new (and simpler) way of accessing the data,
new services (including links to ocean current analyses),
a new subscription method to access the data,
a new SST data analysis tool (called Sat-View) for PCs – which can be used to update the data, even while at sea.
Revised web service
The new service is accessible from the online services section of this website.
Factors affecting productivity of northern harbours.
Oyster growers want to know what makes good and bad fattening years for oysters. So what’s the source of the nutrients that feed the algae which feed the oysters?
Studies of three harbours in the North Island are providing the answers. For example, in Coromandel Harbour, depletion of nutrients in the outer Hauraki Gulf is linked to nutrient declines inside the harbour. Climatic events like the El Niño-La Niña oscillations can determine whether nutrients feed onshore.
Gigartina atropurpurea is a leafy-bladed red alga which grows from the intertidal zone to deeper than 10 m throughout New Zealand. It contains valuable polysaccharides called carrageenans that are used as suspension agents in dairy products worldwide.
The release phase of the snapper tagging study on the west coast of the North Island was successfully completed in March.
Seven chartered commercial vessels were used to catch small samples of snapper for tagging between North Cape and Kapiti: 21,810 snapper were tagged and released from a target of 22,500. The target number was determined on the basis of the expected population size in each area.
Paul Butterfield and the sponge lantern.
Bath-sponges are a special group of sea sponges that have a soft protein (spongin) skeleton surrounded by cells. The skeleton has amazing properties; it is incredibly soft, strong, and elastic, extremely resistant to high temperatures, remarkably absorbent, and resistant to bacterial attack.
