Coasts and Estuaries news

News and media releases related to the our coasts and estuaries-related work.

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The rig shark can be found all around New Zealand at this time of year, from spring to summer. It is found in coastal waters, estuaries and inlets, down to a depth of 200 metres.

A shy, slimy, ancient fish, that looks like an eel but isn't. It has a circular sucker for a mouth, and feeds by rasping a hole in its victim's fishy-flesh.

Next time you bring home fish and chips, consider a sprinkling of health-giving seaweed.

On New Year's Day, NIWA's research vessel Tangaroa departs for its first voyage, since its recent $20 million dollar upgrade, making its twentieth consecutive trip to the Chatham Rise to study the abundance of important fish species.

The return of the upgraded RV Tangaroa represents a huge advancement for New Zealand science and exploration

NIWA today welcomed home RV Tangaroa, New Zealand’s only deepwater research vessel, after a $20 million dollar upgrade to enhance its ocean science and survey capabilities.

NIWA’s coastal scientists met with members of the Whitianga community last week, and thanked them for their input into a NIWA research project, Coastal Adaptation to Climate Change.

NIWA looks below Antarctic ice shelves to investigate the polar ocean system with a new high-tech probe.

A feeding frenzy of cusk-eels where nothing was previously thought to live, an entirely new species of deep-sea fish, and large crustacean scavengers, are among the highlights of a recent research expedition that is shedding new light on the ecology of deepest places on Earth.

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and National Institute of Water & Atmosphere (NIWA) today launched a new web portal providing free public access to data gathered by the Bay of Islands Ocean Survey 20/20 project.

NIWA scientists are working at the cutting edge of earthquake research, developing new ways to interpret the history of undersea earthquakes occurring on major faultlines around New Zealand. This work will help scientists determine the likelihood of damaging earthquakes from underwater faults close to the coast.

NIWA’s Sustainable Aquaculture project was recently awarded six years of research funding by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology to help grow New Zealand aquaculture in an environmentally sustainable way.

The aptly named ‘Rumble III’ undersea volcano on the Kermadec Ridge, 200 km northeast of Auckland, has dropped in height by 120 metres in the last couple of years, pioneering research by NIWA has shown.

The 2010 winner of the prestigious New Zealand Marine Science Award is NIWA principal scientist, Dr Simon Thrush, in recognition of his enormous contribution to estuarine and coastal studies not only in New Zealand but internationally.

A two‑year ocean and coastal survey project in the Bay of Islands is now complete, Land Information New Zealand announced today.

What is known about life in the ocean? Even though it’s the biggest habitat on the planet, most of the ocean remains unexplored biologically. So what do we know? And how does New Zealand’s biodiversity compare with the rest of the world?

A New Zealand sponge has been selected for the prestigious international Top 10 species of the year. Each year, an international Top 10 New Species selection committee selects the 10 most notable new species described from around the world.

NIWA’s research vessel Tangaroa will set sail next week to explore the minerals potential of deep-sea volcanoes of the Kermadec Arc, 200 km north-east of Auckland

Think you’ve got your favourite surf beach to yourself? Think again! There’s life hidden beneath those waves.

“It may look barren, but the high-energy surf zone of exposed beaches is a very productive place, second only to coastal upwellings,” says Keith Michael, a fisheries scientist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). “It’s rich in phytoplankton [microscopic plants], such as diatoms, that provide a constant ‘soup’ for animals tough enough to survive the waves.”

Potentially lethal to swimmers, while providing a handy tow for experienced surfers, rips are a hazard on most of New Zealand’s favourite swimming and surfing beaches.

The scientific name for New Zealand’s iconic black-footed pāua captures its shape and iridescent hues perfectly: Haliotis iris means ‘ear-shell rainbow’.

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