Volunteers Warn More Is Needed To Halt Invasive Seaweed Species
A hap tackling the invasive seaweed caulerpa warns it will spread to the rest of the country, devastating coastal environments and economies, unless more is invested in stopping it short where it is now.
A hapū tackling the invasive seaweed caulerpa in the Bay of Islands warns it will spread to the rest of the country, devastating coastal environments and economies, unless more is invested in stopping it short where it is now.
When hundreds of tonnes of caulerpa washed ashore after the storms caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Tam it was a shock to many, except Arana Rewha and Viki Heta.
Rewha is the chair of Ngāti Kuta hapū – and an award winning kaitiaki. He's also the first person to discover caulerpa up there after it was first found at Great Barrier in 2021.
After caulerpa broke free from the seabed in the storm two weeks ago, Rewha and fellow kaitiaki, Heta, quickly sprang into action, organising volunteers to remove it from Ōmakiwi Cove.
The 'sea pest' had plagued Ōmakiwi Cove since May 2023, they said, and was already having detrimental impacts on biodiversity, especially because of its ability to rapidly smother shellfish beds.
'It suffocates everything. It's just devastating it's an environmental disaster,' Heta said.
If caulerpa continued to spread to nearby bays, people in coastal areas who depend on seafood would suffer, Rewha said.
'Right now in the Bay of Islands, you can't even anchor your boat, because of the risk of caulerpa spreading.
'If we were to lose our coastline to caulerpa, it will greatly affect our economy and everyday living.'
More than $20m had been allocated towards caulerpa control, the Ministry for Primary Industries said, the biggest response to a marine species to date.
But Rewha and Heta said that was not enough, and there needed to be more investment into action, instead of just research.
Rewha speculated it could end up being a billion-dollar clean-up.
'It's a beast. It grows so fast and it's going to be so expensive to get rid of. But it's a threat to the whole country.'
They warned that the longer the government held off on eliminating caulerpa, the more costly it would get.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
27 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Waikato farm's wetland project sets standard for environmental rules
While understanding the concerns of farmers in the areas affected by the proposed plan change, van Ras said financial assistance and advice were available. For their own project, Johan and Kylie received funding through the Waikato Regional Council's Lower Hauraki Catchment Scheme with an Environmental Protection Agreement and the Ministry for Primary Industries' One Billion Trees Fund. He said, 'Farmers have the chance to act now' before there will be undoubted pressure on funding sources. While not in the Waikato or Waipa catchments, he said the rules were likely to be extended to other waterways in the future. 'Farmer-to-farmer learning is the key.' In his role as environmental specialist with DairyNZ, van Ras has been involved with the Pokaiwhenua Catchment Group in South Waikato. The Pokaiwhenua Stream, a tributary of the Waikato River, runs from Karapiro to south of Tokoroa. Waterway wellbeing Working with Raukawa, the group 'restore and enhance the wellbeing of the Pokaiwhenua stream and its catchment for the benefit of the community using matauranga Maori (understanding and knowledge) and western science'. Van Ras said the team aimed to partner iwi with farmers who own land adjoining or near the stream and other interested parties on ways to improve water quality and reduce runoff, and highlight and enhance biodiversity in the stream and its catchment. He is also part of the Waikato section of Dairy NZ's Dairy Environment Leaders programme. DairyNZ's website says the programme supports 'dairy farmer actions to encourage and influence a sustainable future'. 'Dairy Environment Leaders are dairy farmers who lead by example in reducing their environmental footprint, seek to support their fellow farmers to do the same, influence decision-makers to create fair and practical environmental policy, and share with the wider community the great work dairy farmers are doing.' Van Ras said farmers can also seek help and advice from the Waikato Regional Council's (WRC) Primary Sector Support and Engagement team (PIE Group), which played a role in waterway protection through the implementation of regional freshwater farm plans and providing online training resources for Farm Environment Plans. Three waterways run through the van Ras property, ultimately feeding into the Piako River. Van Ras said farmers learned about streams 'from the other side of the fence'. 'Too much weight is placed on the pasture side,' he said. 'We need to balance it up.' Johan and Kylie began a planting programme in 2021, with 15,000 trees now lining the Te Puninga waterway on their property. Carex grasses are also integral to the edge of the stream-bank plantings, which strengthen the stream's banks, provide habitat and most importantly, shade and cool the water. 'There's so much research and evidence in the 'Science of Shade',' van Ras said. He said the project was coming to fruition, with the return of native birds and fish to the property. 'Ngāti Hauā Iwi Trust, our local mana whenua, and the wider community like this. 'In future, this will be a valuable biodiversity asset.' Environment award Johan and Kylie have been recognised for their commitment to reducing the farm's environmental footprint. They won the 2021 Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards supreme award, seeing the competition as a chance to influence change, advocate for farmers and share positive stories from the sector. Van Ras said they remained committed to the environmental cause. 'It's simply the right thing to do.' He admits the work had not been easy. 'You have to make sacrifices, and it's tough in the early days. 'It's the same for every farmer. 'But in the long run, it's worth it.' Such long-term vision is something van Ras believed meshed with the regional council's Plan Change 1 (PC1). 'We want to have productive, profitable farms that meet community wants and values for waterways,' he said. 'It's not that onerous if you keep plugging at it over time.' He said common sense needed to prevail in the WRC plan. 'A lot of detail has been agreed on. 'It's now down to the finer bits and pieces.' While the principle of the plan is 'no-brainer', he said farmers had been confused by the time the process had taken – PC1 was first notified by the regional council in 2016.
Scoop
8 hours ago
- Scoop
Can My Father's Partner Take His House?
Got questions? RNZ is launching a new podcast, No Stupid Questions with Susan Edmunds, next month. We'd love to hear more of your questions about money and the economy. You can send through written questions, like these ones, but - even better - you can drop us a voice memo to our email questions@ What happens if my father owns a house, but now has a partner for several years who moved in to the house and has put the power in her name to prove she's lived there for a certain time. If my father dies before her with no will, will she get the house or us kids? Justine Wood is a specialist trustee at Public Trust and helped me answer your question. Basically, when someone dies without a will, it's referred to as "dying intestate". That means specific legislation comes into play that determines who will get which bits of the person's estate. That means the partner may well be entitled to a share of the house. "Based on the family circumstances you've outlined, the partner may be entitled to receive the personal chattels, such as vehicles, furniture and jewellery, the first $155,000 of the estate and a third share of the remainder of the estate," she said. "This will depend on the couple meeting the legal criteria of having a de facto relationship at the time. The remaining two thirds of anything left would be distributed equally between his children. "Administering an estate when there is no will can be costly and take longer to sort out. Having a will helps your family understand what you'd like done with your estate after your gone - and it makes the process of managing your passing less stressful on loved ones." The Administration Act defines de facto relationship in line with the Property (Relationships) Act. This said a de facto relationship is a couple who are at least 18, living together as a couple and not married or in a civil union. Things that might be taken into account are the duration of the relationship, the nature and extent of common residence, whether there is a sexual relationship, the degree of financial interdependence and dependence, ownership of property, the degree of mutual commitment to a shared life, the care and support of children, performance of household duties and the reputation and public aspects of the relationship. It would make sense for your father to draw up a will. Even with a will, his partner may have rights under the Property (Relationships) Act - they may need to sign a contracting out agreement if he wants to ensure that the property is left to you. Are there any disadvantages in keeping KiwiSaver funds there in KiwiSaver after retirement age? Is it best to fill the forms now and take some, if not all? There really is no disadvantage to leaving your money in KiwiSaver once you're retired, if that's what makes the most sense for you at the moment. It would be a good idea to get some advice on the funds your money is invested in, though. Depending on how much you've got in your KiwiSaver, it might make sense to divide it up and invest it in a few different funds. You might have some in a conservative or even cash fund that you can tap into if you need it in the near term, for unexpected bills or things like that, some in a balanced fund for the medium term and then some money in a growth fund for the longer term. The growth fund will probably bump around a bit but should deliver better returns overall, which might help make your money last longer through your retirement.
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Old fire sprinklers in Parliament pose risk, PSA demands urgent action
Parliamentary Service said it was managing a project to replace all fire protection sprinkler pipework throughout Parliament House. 'The pipework is old and has a risk of failure and leaks,' said chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero in his first statement to RNZ. 'It's a long-term project spanning several years but we are already seeing improvements in the system after completing some key areas.' The Public Service Association (PSA) union was surprised at this and called for an urgent meeting, saying it had been kept largely in the dark. Parliament is no stranger to fires, the Great Fire of 1907 being the largest. A night watchman 'thought he heard rain on the roof, but when he went to check, he found a substantial blaze had broken out', one history said, with other fires inside in 1992 and 2015 (and on the lawns during the occupation of 2022). PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons responded to Gonzalez-Montero that its delegates were only told of 'general problems' with the fire system and about general maintenance. 'The serious risk of failure uncovered in this report has not been adequately focused on,' she said in a statement. 'Safety-related asset management should be properly planned for – it is not acceptable to put workers, MPs and visitors at risk during a fire to skimp on the maintenance budget.' When Gonzalez-Montero was asked by RNZ about this, he responded that no person was at any risk. 'We are performing this work in stages and have been for almost two years now with many large portions of the building completed,' he said in a second, later statement. 'During this time, the building's fire protection system remains fully operational and compliant. Any drop in performance, or sensors going offline, would trigger warnings to our facilities team.' The building had a BWoF. The overhaul work was fully funded, he said. However, the Treasury report in early 2025 said, 'Budget funding sought'. Subsequently, Gonzalez-Montero said that Parliamentary Service had until recently been funding the sprinkler upgrade from baseline funding. 'This was recently transferred to a new appropriation to ringfence it.' This then meant the Treasury report captured it. The proposed fix also covered strengthened ground floor windows to improve intruder resistance. 'It is not acceptable for the solution to take years, this work is urgent,' said Fitzsimons. 'There is no room for any risk of failure when it comes to fire safety.' At a meeting with Parliamentary Service, it was agreed this would be discussed in the health and safety forum at Parliament, she said. – RNZ
