MUDDY FEET - Auckland Regional Council

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Mouth of the Miranda Stream: start of the coastal band of mangroves (background) looking SW toward location 1 in table 5.1 (photo K. Woodley) New shellbank at Miranda: slow evolution since 1996: rapid expansion in 2004 (photo K. Woodley)
1 Introduction by Ria Brejaart and Bill Brownell (with contributions by Holly Bogle and Nigel Keeley) 1.1 Wetlands in New Zealand The mountains, plains, plateaus and rough coastlines of New Zealand, and the variety of physical processes acting upon them – wind and rain, rivers and streams, waves and tides, floods, earthquakes, glacial and volcanic activity – have combined to form an extensive network of coastal and interior wetlands. These important wildlife habitats, repositories of nutrients for recycling and buffers against flooding have gained prominence in recent years, after many years of being considered a nuisance. In the Waikato Region in 1865 there were fewer, but much larger wetlands. Today, after 150 years of drainage, the large wetlands like the Hauraki flood plain adjacent to the Firth of Thames have been lost or split into small fragments, and most are now smaller than 50 ha. The National Wetland Trust was established in 1999 to increase the appreciation of wetlands and their values by all New Zealanders. The Trust plans to build a state-of-the-art wetland interpretation centre near Lake Kopuera, in the northern Waikato Region. Wetlands have been used, altered and drained by both Maori and Europeans. It is estimated that only 10% of New Zealand’s former wetlands remain (Cromarty and Scott, 1996). Wetlands in the Waikato Region include peat bogs, shallow lakes, extensive freshwater bogs, and river flats, as well as vast estuarine wetlands, of which the lower Firth of Thames is the largest. Extraction of sand and gravel, land reclamation, drainage, run-off, residential developments, and the spread of mangroves and exotic weeds are some of the processes that bring about ongoing changes to New Zealand’s wetlands today (Cromarty and Scott, 1996). The coastal wetland and mudflats that constitute the present Firth of Thames Ramsar Site is a result of perhaps the most severe wetland modification ever undertaken in New Zealand: the conversion of over 200,000 acres of the original Piako Swamp into fully drained, prime agricultural land. The mangrove forests that today cover 1100 hectares of coastal margin in the southern Firth barely existed in 1952, mainly as a few small patches at the mouths of the Piako and Waihou rivers. 1.2 The Ramsar Convention The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an intergovernmental treaty, adopted on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, and is commonly known and referred to as the Ramsar Convention. Although the emphasis originally was on the provision of habitat for waterfowl and waders, the Convention has in recent years broadened its scope, recognizing the importance of wetland ecosystems for biodiversity conservation and for the well-being of human communities. By July 2000, the Convention had 122 Contracting Parties in all parts of the world, with 1031 wetlands that had been designated for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International Importance, covering 78.2 million hectares. Upon joining, contracting parties must fulfil four major obligations: • Designation of at least one wetland for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International Importance, and promotion of its conservation, and where appropriate, its wise use. • Inclusion of wetland conservation considerations in planning at a national level. EcoQuest Education Foundation EQRS/1 12/04 1
Page 1 and 2: MUDDY FEET FIRTH OF THAMES RAMSAR S
Page 3 and 4: MUDDY FEET FIRTH OF THAMES RAMSAR S
Page 5 and 6: Contents List of Figures List of Ta
Page 7 and 8: 11.7 Current Research in the Firth
Page 9 and 10: List of Tables Table 5-1 Comparativ
Page 11 and 12: Acknowledgements This report was ma
Page 13: Preface Muddy feet. All resident an
Page 17 and 18: Figure 1-1 Southern Hauraki Gulf an
Page 19 and 20: Wind and tidal currents cause a net
Page 21 and 22: Figure 1-4 continued. EcoQuest Educ
Page 23 and 24: studies, some of which use the Chen
Page 25 and 26: providing for the drainage and sett
Page 27 and 28: 2 Hydrology by Ria Brejaart, Bill B
Page 29 and 30: 2.2 Summary of Cheatley (2000) Grou
Page 31 and 32: 3 Vegetation by Peter Maddison and
Page 33 and 34: mangroves positioned between the ma
Page 35 and 36: and available habitat types for wad
Page 37 and 38: Family Asteraceae *Aster subulatus
Page 39 and 40: Though creeping musk is of widespre
Page 41 and 42: Future Work: Spartina is a recognis
Page 43 and 44: *Trifolium glomeratum - clustered c
Page 45 and 46: 4 Terrestrial Invertebrates & Mamma
Page 47 and 48: Heteronychus arator (Fabricius) - B
Page 49 and 50: The extensive mangrove community th
Page 51 and 52: establishing in areas where tempera
Page 53 and 54: It appears from our observations an
Page 55 and 56: 41 Figure -5-1 June, 1963 aerial ph
Page 57 and 58: 43 Figure -5-3: Waitakaruru River t
Page 59 and 60: 45 1 Upstream view about 100m from
Page 61 and 62: 47 Looking west: 1 Dredge spoils af
Page 63 and 64: 49 5.6 Revegetation of the Spoils A
Page 65 and 66:
51 The five field investigations of
Page 67 and 68:
53 issue of proper disposal, whethe
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55 Figure 6-1 Important Sites for w
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57 Figure 6-3 Changing habitats at
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59 • Over 1983-1994, rarer waders
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61 Thames, knots have been recorded
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63 stop-peck’. On pasture they fe
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65 6.5 Other Wader Species As in ot
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67 graze on grass and other low-gro
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69 Little black shag - Phalacrocora
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71 6.8 Terrestrial Species A few of
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73 Figure 6-4 Wader watchers: a com
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75 S. I. pied oystercatcher Torea H
Page 91 and 92:
77 7 Estuarine Fish, Fisheries and
Page 93 and 94:
79 firmer patches of bottom near th
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81 (between Kaiaua and Orere Point)
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83 large quantities of unwanted har
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85 Only four or five of the small b
Page 101 and 102:
87 stage in the sea. These species
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89 Appendix 7.1 Fishes of the South
Page 105 and 106:
91 8 Benthic Ecology Part 1 - A pre
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93 at a size that would have allowe
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95 8.3.2 Across-shore trends Simila
Page 111 and 112:
97 Relative abundances m 2 30 25 20
Page 113 and 114:
99 from fine silts to sandy mud in
Page 115 and 116:
101 cumulative downstream effects f
Page 117 and 118:
103 8.7 Study site Sampling took pl
Page 119 and 120:
105 Table 8-8 Total for organisms c
Page 121 and 122:
107 should be mapped :physical and
Page 123 and 124:
109 including scenery, ecological s
Page 125 and 126:
111 Important resource management a
Page 127 and 128:
113 • Relevant provisions of the
Page 129 and 130:
115 Figure 9-1 Zoning map of Thames
Page 131 and 132:
117 Figure 9-2 Zoning map of Kaiaua
Page 133 and 134:
119 The decision to impose a tapu i
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121 9.9 Discussion The coast road t
Page 137 and 138:
123 10 Raising Conservation Awarene
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125 10.2.4 Waikato Conservancy In 2
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127 • Is there a need for more ef
Page 143 and 144:
129 The Kaiaua Citizens’ and Rate
Page 145 and 146:
131 • What are the causes of the
Page 147 and 148:
133 • Formation of a better pictu
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135 11.4.2 Marine farming Mussels a
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137 Five permanent sites in the upp
Page 153 and 154:
139 • Uptake of nutrients by muss
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141 12 Firth of Thames Ramsar Site
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143 regard to substrates that norma
Page 159 and 160:
145 The construction of the stop ba
Page 161 and 162:
147 Physical (toxic chemicals, nutr
Page 163 and 164:
149 The jurisdictional boundary (be
Page 165 and 166:
151 What are the preferred food spe
Page 167 and 168:
153 How to attract a “manageable
Page 169 and 170:
155 Local involvement It was noted
Page 171 and 172:
157 Sedimentation: particle size di
Page 173 and 174:
159 Melville David Ornithological S
Page 175 and 176:
161 Firth toward a few species that
Page 177 and 178:
163 A clear, consistent definition
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165 14 Bibliography By Marie Buchle
Page 181 and 182:
167 Keywords: Waihou and tributarie
Page 183 and 184:
169 Copy held and available from th
Page 185 and 186:
171 Subject: Vegetation Keywords: L
Page 187 and 188:
173 Subject: Birds, mangroves Cox,
Page 189 and 190:
175 de Lange, P.J., & Lowe, D.J. (1
Page 191 and 192:
177 Estcourt, I.N. (1976). Bibliogr
Page 193 and 194:
179 Subject: Fish Keywords: new gob
Page 195 and 196:
181 Harris, R.W. (1975). Summary of
Page 197 and 198:
183 Jillett, J.B. (1966). Plankton
Page 199 and 200:
185 landform which holds valuable i
Page 201 and 202:
187 Copy held: EQ McKenzie, H.R. (1
Page 203 and 204:
189 mixed terrigenous-carbonate gra
Page 205 and 206:
191 accounts for water movement at
Page 207 and 208:
193 Pierce, R. J. (1999). Regional
Page 209 and 210:
195 Subject: Benthic ecology Keywor
Page 211 and 212:
197 Subject: Birds. Record of occas
Page 213 and 214:
199 Keywords: dredge disturbance, b
Page 215 and 216:
201 Keywords: environmental managem
Page 217:
203 Zharikov, Y. & Skilleter, G.A.
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MUDDY FEET - Auckland Regional Council

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