Te Tapuwae o Rongokako - Protecting our seas video

Clip duration: 1 minute 31 seconds

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What you’ll see

This clip opens with a rock lobster amongst kina sheltering in a rock crevice then shows wave action on this exposed coast above and below the surface. A diver and fish are seen amongst the kelp then an on-screen message appears: “When a dominant male spotty dies, a female may change sex to replace him”. Footage of spotties then gives way to other species, a diver surveying lobster and someone on the surface collecting data from the seawater. Larvae are then seen swarming near the surface, then on the seabed again we see large kina and paua.

A shot of the local marae tekoteko and marine reserve sign are then seen before heading back beneath the surface to see juvenile trevally and other marine species.

What you’ll learn

On Gisborne’s exposed east coast, this reserve is characterised by intertidal reef platforms intersected by deep channels, Ecklonia kelp forest and sandflats. Species include spotties (a species which can change sex when there is an imbalance in the population), scarlet wrasse, tarakihi, demoiselles, kahawai, rock lobster (crayfish) and blue moki.

Tagging studies on rock lobster here have been looking at how fast they grow, how far they travel, and what other species they interact with. Travel outside the reserve boundaries has been shown in rock lobster as well as larval forms of other species, like kina and paua, by measuring coastal currents.
 
Local iwi, Ngati Konohi, were joint applicants for establishing this marine reserve as they recognised its potential as of a form of nursery for young fish, such as trevally, and shellfish.

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