Friends of the Hauraki Gulf

What juvenile hpuku (Polyprion oxygeneios) look like. Imagine a marine reserve teeming with new life like this! Photographed by Irene van de Ven,
at NIWA breeding tanks in Northland.

Last chance - please send a submission!

The period for submissions in support of the new Hkaimang-Matiatia (NW Waiheke) Marine Reserve is coming to a close.

The deadline for last submissions is 20 March 2022.

Please remind all your friends and family - indeed everyone you know - to make submissions about the Hkaimang-Matiatia Marine Reserve proposal.

We need your support on this. Please help us get this proposal - the first new marine reserve proposed for our sadly-depleted Hauraki Gulf in 20 years - over the line.

We must show the Minister of Conservation that there is overwhelming support in favour of greater marine protection in the Gulf, in the form of marine reserves. After all, the Hauraki Marine Park is the equivalent of New Zealands national park of the sea. Lets protect its ecosystems in the appropriate manner.

Thanks for your help with this!

Please email your submissions now to DOC at:

waihekeproposal@publicvoice.co.nz

or go online at:

www.doc.govt.nz/waihekeproposal

Manaia, the big-bellied seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) will be a resident species in the new marine reserve. Photo Wikimedia Commons

Our consultation work goes on

We will continue to talk to anyone and everyone about the benefits of the Hkaimang-Matiatia Marine Reserve.

Recently Shaun Lee presented to the Devonport Yacht Club and a U3A (university of the Third Age) audience in Auckland.

Scientific support

Respected marine biologists from as far afield as Akaroa in the South Island have submitted in favour of the Hkaimang-Matiatia Marine Reserve.

Most recently, Drs Vince Kerr and Ingrid Visser from the Far North have added their voice of support.

Vince is the prime mover n the Mountains to the Sea Trust, and Ingrid is the well-known orca researcher.

Auckland Council Environment Committee today voted for a submission broadly in support of our application.

The final version of our comprehensive application report the proposal written by Mike Lee and Leith Duncan and supported by a long list of contributors, is up on our website where you can readily download it:

https://friendsofhaurakigulf.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Hakaimango-Matiatia-Marine-Reserve.pdf

DOC has printed out the report in hard copy for display at their city office, Bledisloe House in central Auckland, Waiheke public library, the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Waiheke Local Board offices.

Hard copies are also available from the Friends of the Hauraki Gulf at a cost of $32 a copy.

Submissions can be made on the DOC website, at www.doc.govt.nz/waihekeproposal

To view the latest version of the application document please see:

https://friendsofhaurakigulf.nz

Read the full proposal here.

Facebook & upgraded website

The Friends of the Hauraki Gulf group has established a Facebook page. Please give us lots of likes.

https://www.facebook.com/TFOTHG

Find out more - an invitation

The Friends of the Hauraki Gulf group would welcome any invitations (of course subject to Covid restrictions) to make an illustrated presentation to any interested community groups.

Please visit our new website for detailed information on the ecological values and the background of this proposal.

Please support us!

We will gratefully receive and acknowledge donations to our cause. All the work has been done, and now we need a little more to get our proposal over the line.

Our bank account details are:

Friends of the Hauraki Gulf
Kiwibank, Oneroa, Waiheke Island
38-9014-0667755-01

So we can send you a receipt, please provide your email or postal address.

Newsletter editor Alex Stone. Please contact me at alzzstone@gmail.com
if you would like to contribute to this newsletter.