Developing a citizen science monitoring programme for Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour and catchment: Summary of monitoring activities Technical Report
- Author
- Valois, A.
- Year
- 2020
- Publisher / Organisation
- NWIA
- Pages
- 20
- Summary
- Prepared for Porirua City Council There is a considerable body of environmental research on Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour and catchment (Porirua Harbour), reflecting the high cultural, recreational and ecological values of the estuary and its catchment streams and wetlands. Key stressors affecting ecosystem health and water quality in Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour’s waters include sedimentation, stormwater and wastewater discharges, and loss of habitat (e.g., seagrass and saltmarsh habitat). The number of indicators measured in the Harbour and catchment has risen considerably over time, reflecting the diversity of issues and the wide range of indicators available. However, routine “state of the environment” monitoring is restricted to the main stem of Porirua, Pāuatahanui and Horokiri streams, with less regular monitoring of most smaller tributaries. Benthic ecological monitoring in the Harbour is extensive but is limited to five-yearly measurements for most attributes (e.g., invertebrates). First released in 2012, Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour and Catchment Strategy and Action Plan (the Strategy) recognised that cleaning up the Harbour and its catchment is very much a community issue. Key principles of the Strategy include promoting community involvement in decision-making processes and restoration activities and developing and maintaining active partnerships between agencies and with the community. Developing a citizen science monitoring strategy for Te Awarua-oPorirua will be important for meeting the objectives of the Strategy, as well as the recently released Te Awarua-o-Porirua Whaitua Implementation Programme (WIP), and also allows for expanding the coverage of existing monitoring networks and early warning detection of eutrophication issues in the Harbour. In this report, we summarise existing monitoring activities in the Harbour and catchment, identify gaps in terms of the types of data collected and identify indicators that can be monitored by volunteers and could form the basis of a citizen science programme in Te Awarua-o-Porirua. However, volunteer water monitoring is more than just filling in gaps. Volunteer monitoring can also encourage innovation by aiding in the developing of new indicators (particularly around narrative ecosystem health objectives included in the Strategy and WIP), monitoring the success of restoration projects, providing a path for adaptive management, and identifying important hotspots of contamination or biodiversity.