The New Zealand cockle, also known as tuaki or tuangi, is endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand’s coastal areas. They are filter feeders and are well adapted...
Mahika/mahinga kai is a highly significant concept for Māori. It encompasses the values and protection of natural resources and is specific to iwi and their rohe....
Waitā is a whetū in the Matariki cluster. It is the star connected with the oceans and marine conditions and represents the many types of food...
Mātauranga Māori and science are helping to solve a few questions in Ōhiwa Harbour: What has caused the mussel beds to disappear? Can we restore the...
Very tiny phytoplankton cells (a type of microscopic algae) can produce potent toxins. Although the toxin produced by one phytoplankton cell is pretty minimal, it can...
This Connected article is based on an interview by Susan Paris with environmental scientist Dr James Ataria (Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa). James’s work focuses on...
This Connected article looks at the aftermath of the 2011 environmental disaster caused when the MV Rena struck Astrolabe Reef, off the Tauranga coast. Since then,...
In this Connected article scientist Hannah Rainforth investigates kākahi, Aotearoa New Zealand’s threatened freshwater mussels in the Whanganui River, to find whether the evidence supports claims...
The Kaituna River flows through the Bay of Plenty, winding its way from Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti to its outflow at Te Tumu. However, Te Tumu...
Scientists and hapū are investigating whether kina (a New Zealand sea urchin) can become our next high-value nutraceutical, functional food product. A nutraceutical is a food...
The seas surrounding New Zealand are complex. They are a connected and dynamic mix of chemical, physical and biological processes. The sheer size of the ocean...
As New Zealanders, we love our oceans. Coastal and offshore waters are our playgrounds and sustain us spiritually and economically. As a nation, we want this...
The sea is our taonga. Our connections to it are strong. More than 75% of New Zealanders live within 10 km of the coast, and the...
The Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge’s vision is for New Zealand to have healthy marine ecosystems providing value for every New Zealander. It has seven research...
EBM – ecosystem-based management – is a holistic and inclusive approach for managing an ecosystem. In this activity, students use EBM principles as a framework to...
In this activity, students explore Māori perspectives concerning estuaries. By the end of this activity, students should be able to: explain how a Māori legend can...
Iwi and marine biologists are curious to know whether the New Zealand native sea cucumber can become a valuable export product while also reducing the environmental...
Shellfish numbers have been plentiful for centuries and important kai for Northland Māori, but industrial harvesting and canning had a devastating effect on toheroa numbers. I...
Young Ocean Explorers is a television series presented by 14-year-old Riley Hathaway. In each 5-minute episode, Riley explores sea creatures and underwater ecosystems and interviews marine...
Mussels are bivalve molluscs. New Zealand has 22 species of mussel including the blue mussel (kuku), little black mussel (hauea) and the ribbed mussel (pukanikani). Depending...
The resources in this collection are about where the land meets the sea. New Zealand has 15,134 km of coastline with extensive marine habitat. Land and...
Wayfinding is about all of the ways in which people and animals orient themselves in physical space and navigate from place to place. Traditionally, wayfinding referred...
Two scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have solved the puzzle as to how marine mussels remain attached to wood, stone, concrete or iron...
Green-lipped mussels (kūtai, Perna canaliculus) are endemic to New Zealand. Discover how these mussels are farmed, and how a tiny parasitic crab affects the mussel industry....
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