More than 80 educators, sailing club representatives, environmental advocates and community leaders have sharpened their marine monitoring skills as part of a series of Hauraki Gulf Monitoring Project workshops held around Auckland.
The sessions ran at four Auckland sailing clubs, Bucklands Beach Yacht Club, Wakatere Boating Club, Gulf Harbour Yacht Club and Hobsonville Yacht Club, building a growing network of people equipped to monitor the health of the Hauraki Gulf and contribute meaningful data to marine conservation.
Facilitated by Yachting New Zealand Education Lead Alisa Torgersen and Sally Carson from the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre, the hands-on workshops introduced participants to the RŪNĀ Moanamana suite of monitoring tools and techniques.
RŪNĀ is Yachting New Zealand's environmental education programme. It connects sailors, clubs, schools and communities with the marine spaces they sail and live in, and helps them develop the knowledge and tools to become active kaitiaki of their local moana.
Moanamana is a key module within RŪNĀ, a suite of citizen science tools that makes it easier for communities to observe, record and share what is happening in their local marine environment.
Participants learned how to monitor plankton, conduct subtidal observations, identify species using iNaturalist, and collect and share data through the Moanamana App and Marine Metre Squared website.
For educators, the programme also offers a practical way to take science learning out of the classroom and into the water.
"Participants explored how real-world environmental monitoring can support the refreshed science curriculum, giving learners opportunities to investigate issues in their own communities, collect and analyse genuine environmental data, and use their findings to inform action," Torgersen said.
"Every observation tells us something about the moana, but the real power comes when communities keep gathering that evidence over time. By connecting people with their local marine environment, giving them the tools to understand what they're seeing, and bringing those observations together, we can build a much clearer picture of how our moana is changing, and, importantly, use that knowledge to inspire action."
The data collected through the programme feeds into the NZL Blue Belt network, helping build a long-term picture of environmental change across Aotearoa's marine environments.
The Hauraki Gulf Monitoring Project is designed to empower communities to play an active role in understanding and protecting the Gulf. By bringing together scientific monitoring, local knowledge and community action, it is building a network of citizen scientists contributing to a deeper understanding of one of Aotearoa's most significant marine environments.
