Coastal marine ecosystems balance on a fine ecological edge. They are dynamic and can easily be disturbed by human impact such as contamination from pollution or excessive harvesting. They can ...
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 sea are intricately linked, one impacting ...
On 5 October 2011, Maritime New Zealand was called to respond to an ‘incident’ in the early hours of the morning. The 236 m cargo vessel Rena had struck the Astrolabe Reef about 12 nautical miles ...
In this activity, students consider short-term and long-term responses to an environmental disaster such as the Rena. By the end of this activity, students should be able to: describe what might ...
In this activity, students discuss how a variety of everyday objects can serve as metaphors for the important characteristics and functions of estuaries. By the end of this activity, students ...
In this activity, students take on the role of a stakeholder in New Zealand fisheries. In their role, they decide whether they agree or disagree with the statement ‘there are plenty of fish in ...
Come and visit Aotearoa New Zealand’s underwater world in this online citizen science project. Discover, count and identify unique fish species that live within our marine reserves ...
Marine Metre Squared is a New Zealand citizen science project that supports communities to monitor their local seashore. The project has been designed to provide meaningful, valid environmental ...
Help scientists establish valuable baseline data about the numbers, locations, habits and health of penguins in a range of Southern Ocean sites. This information will enable better understanding ...
The rocky shore is a popular topic in primary school science. Below are some Science Learning Hub resources for primary teachers related to the rocky shore in the Living World strand of the New ...
In this recorded professional learning session, Lyn Rogers and Steve Hathaway from Young Ocean Explorers introduce some exciting marine teaching and learning resources and: chat about Steve’s ...
With 75% of New Zealanders living within 10 km of the coast, many students will be familiar with estuaries. In scientific terms, estuaries are the interface between the land and the sea – the ...
Immediately following the grounding of the Rena on the Astrolabe Reef, the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and the University of Waikato formed a marine response team. This team surveyed local marine ...
The Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge is conducting the country’s first national experiment of its kind. Professor Conrad Pilditch explains how scientists are collecting data on the ...
Andrew Swales and Weno Iti from NIWA take a core sample in an estuary in Kawhia. Sediment cores can show changes in estuarine ecology over hundreds of years, giving scientists an idea of the ...
Dr Candida Savage explains the clues she collects in estuaries and fiords, to understand how changes in land use affect these environments.
Human actions at sea and on land are putting increasing pressure on the ocean and the species that live there.
The ocean has an amazing diversity of habitat types and species that live within them.