Regional Estuary Monitoring Programme 10 year trend report: April 2001 to April 2011 Technical Report
- Author
- H. Needham, N. Singleton, H. Giles, H. Jones
- Year
- 2014
- Publisher / Organisation
- Waikato Regional Council
- Number
- 2014/41
- Month
- June
- ISBN / ISSN
- 2230-4363
- Summary
- Key recommendations Although neither the Firth of Thames nor Raglan (Whaingaora) Harbour has shown any major shifts in community structure or sediment characteristics over the 10 year monitoring period, this does not imply that monitoring is no longer necessary, as some site-specific changes in each estuary were observed. Furthermore, preliminary application of a Traits Based Index (TBI) to the REMP dataset has shown that some sites have low or reducing functional redundancy. It is recommended that the TBI is further developed for the Waikato region as it condenses complex ecological information into an easily-interpretable measure of the ecological health of an estuary. Along with continued monitoring in the Firth of Thames and Raglan Harbour, this will require continued efforts to improve taxonomic resolution, and development of location specific thresholds that classify sites as having good, intermediate and poor functional redundancy. Tairua Harbour has recently been included in REMP (sampling commenced in August 2013), but there are about 25 estuaries in the Waikato region, covering a range of different types, containing a wide variety of habitats, and exposed to a wide range of pressures. Expansion of REMP may be able to be resourced by implementation of a nested monitoring design at estuaries currently monitored. A nested approach would see two sites monitored in each estuary for a period of five years, followed by monitoring at all sites for the next two years. Expansion of REMP further to other estuaries in the region would greatly improve our understanding of the health of these important ecosystems and the impacts of human influences on their state and functioning.