Hauraki's Endangered Shore and Sea birds, and the People Protecting Them
New Zealand is considered a bird loving nation, but with 82% of our bird species endangered who are the people creating a difference?
The three pairs of binoculars are the most obvious clue to this trio's reason for being at Omaha Beach this Sunday. I find them sat on camping chairs with thermoses of coffee and lunch in reused Vogels bags. Looking closer, there would be more hints, like the Kathmandu jackets and giant telescope between them. Sat beside you could even notice a fairy tern brooch pinned on one of the members' hats.
Marie Louise Ward, Sue Cook, and Gwenda Pulham are all bird enthusiasts, and each contributes to the monitoring and protection of shorebirds.
Omaha's Shorebird Sanctuary is located on a small sandspit at the northern end of Omaha Beach. Surrounded by multimillion-dollar homes, a predator fence covered with informational signage separates the development from the various native birds inhabiting and visiting this site. White sand beaches are littered with perfectly formed seashells and the tiny footprints of shorebirds.
Last year found that 82% of our bird species are either facing extinction or are at risk, according to a report by Statistics New Zealand. In DOCS's conservation management strategy, 36 indigenous bird species in the Auckland region alone.
Northern New Zealand dotterels (tūturiwhatu), banded dotterels (pohowera), godwits (kuaka), and variable oystercatchers (tōrea pango) all use this site to breed, even Aotearoa's rarest bird, the NZ fairy tern (tara iti), has been spotted here.
"The international migratory birds come back here year after year after year when they've come back from Alaska, and the birds breeding down in the South Island," said Pulham.
A quick walk across the beach, and you're sure to see tūturiwhatu scurrying in front of you and tōrea pango crying their territorial call. However, these sights and sounds so iconic to our beaches are facing challenges that conservationists are struggling to defeat.
The harbour and food source bring them to this tiny spot in the Hauraki Gulf, but Ward, chair of Omaha Shorebird Sanctuary, fears that the food could be depleted and their breeding environment disrupted. She has noticed many boats fishing in the bay during the summer, which lacks marine protection.
"Indirectly, if you remove all the big fish and start getting into the little ones, you're going to start depleting the food source for a lot of our shorebirds. We have a large number of bird species that need these fish," said Ward.
"It's just a no-brainer. Do we need to be so greedy?"
New Zealand is the world breeding centre for seabirds, with more endemic species than all the remaining countries combined and 88 species in total, according to Northern New Zealand Seabirds Trusts (NNZST) report on threats to seabirds.
However, seabirds are the most threatened group of birds globally.
Seabird scientist and conservation photographer Edin Whitehead works with the NNZST and studies how the environment affects birds' behaviour via internal processes, such as their health and cellular function, and how that changes with different environmental effects.
She said there are three significant threats facing seabirds globally. The first are introduced predators in the colonies where they breed.
Secondly, "fisheries which have a huge impact on seabirds, in particular, all marine life, but particularly seabirds," said Whitehead. They get accidentally caught and killed in fisheries, mainly long-line fishing but also shoreline fishing. A significant side effect of fisheries is taking marine life out of the ocean that shorebirds feed with or feed on.
"Long-line and trawl fisheries are reported to be responsible for the most seabird bycatch in New Zealand," according to the State of our Seabirds 2021 report created by the NNZST in collaboration with the Hauraki Gulf Forum. Seabird species in the Hauraki Gulf have declined by 69%.
Sue Cook checking rodent traps. Photo: Tiana Thorpe
Sue Cook checking rodent traps. Photo: Tiana Thorpe
"Within the inner Gulf, year-round resident seabird populations remain in a poor state or declining and have responded to food web changes by shifting foraging habits away from the coast," said Whitehead.
The third threat Whitehead mentioned was "the threat of all threats for all ecosystems generally is climate change."
The executive officer of the Hauraki Gulf Forum, Lucy Baragwanath, has lived in Tāmaki Makaurau her whole life. She says she joined the forum because she cares about the Gulf and is worried about the decline she has witnessed.
"Over my life, terrible changes have happened... two-thirds of a decline in seabirds, over half decline in fish stocks, nearly a complete decline in whales and dolphins, scallops and crayfish are functionally extinct."
Whitehead studied the spotted shag (kawau tikitiki), which used to have a number of colonies on both the west and east coast of Auckland, whereas now there only remains two, with about 250 breeding birds left.
"I did some tracking over summer to see where those birds went to forage, and three of them were killed in set nets. Three of the birds out of ten. So there are obvious examples of really impactful threats impacting populations."
"There's not a lot of point doing science and figuring out what the problems are without actually sharing that with everyone else," said Whitehead.
Pulham said that the real energy for bird conservation and protection comes from community groups, of which there are many in the Gulf.
"We're all in it for the love because we love these birds. And we give our time and our energy. You get results when you've got passionate people."
Volunteers and Conservation Groups in the Gulf
One bay over from Omaha, you will find Tāwharanui, a marine reserve located on the end of the peninsula. Arriving to birdsong and dew in the grass, a dozen gather outside the woolshed just before the predator fence.
Here, once a month, volunteers gather on Sunday in the park run by TOSSI, Tāwharanui Open Sanctuary Society Inc. Supported by regular members, weeding, planting, park maintenance, and bird tracking all occur.
Today, we hop on mules (farm buggies) and drive through fields of lambs and pūkeko to Anchor Bay, a white sand beach looking out to Te hauturu-o-Toi (Little Barrier Island) and surfers in choppy waves.
After a morning planting on the banks of the dunes and hauling buckets of sand while watching tūturiwhatu and tōrea pango below, everyone meets once more for a sausage sizzle lunch.
I talked to TOSSI Chair member Sally Richardson and committee members Susan Gibbings and Karyn Hoksbergen about whether a larger marine reserve in the Hauraki Gulf would be helpful. They all agreed that it would help not only the fish but also the birds.
"We're teachers, so we know if we don't do something to get younger people involved, it's going to be even worse for the next generation," said Richardson.
In an email from a TOSSI volunteer James Ross he said there are nine seabird species breeding at Tāwharanui. The grey-faced petrel (ōi), fluttering shearwater (pakahā), diving petrel (kuaka), Cook's petrels (tītī), Little blue penguin (kororā), black-backed gulls (karoro), red-billed gulls (tarāpunga), white-fronted terns (tara), and pied shags (kāruhiruhi).
He reinforced Whitehead's claims on their biggest threats, saying the birds' feeding is impacted by fishing (commercial and recreational), pollution, sedimentation, and climate change.
TOSSI chairperson Alison Stanes also shared in an email that the biggest help for dotterels at Tāwaharanui is that "we do everything we can to slow climate change."
In addition to these species that breed at Tāwaharanui, white-faced storm petrel (takahikare), Buller's shearwater (rako), Australasian gannet (tākapu), little shag (kawaupaka) and Caspian tern (taranui) all regularly feed in the waters around the peninsula.
Another volunteer programme I visited was at the end of another peninsular. SOSSI, as the name implies, runs a very similar programme. Shakespear Open Sanctuary Society Inc. has volunteers meet every Tuesday at their regional park located at the end of Whangaparāoa.
As a stream of cars turned up at 8.30am, a large number of volunteers organised themselves into different groups for the morning.
Today, I was with the weeding team; we made our way through native bush, removing forget-me-nots, loquat, thistles and wild ginger. Listening to the calls of Saddlebacks (tīeke), tui, and the crashing of NZ wood pigeons (kererū) as they landed in the trees above us.
Speaking with the volunteers, it was clear that everyone here has a passion for protecting this site, which is essential to the lives of many sea and shorebirds.
Shorebirds breeding at the Shakespear include banded rail (moho pererū), spotless crake (pūweto), pied stilt (poaka), northern NZ dotterel (tūturiwhatu) and variable oystercatcher (tōrea pango). With seabirds such as grey-faced petrels (ōi) and little blue penguins (kororā), nesting in the park.
All these species are at risk from the deteriorating availability of food resources in the Gulf.
"This is right on my doorstep," Helen Hart said when asked why she regularly volunteers at Shakespear and cares about protecting it.
Another SOSSI volunteer said that they have a boat that they take fishing in the Gulf Harbour marina. "You could always catch fish, but there's nothing anymore."
Sue Cook shared a similar experience. "My children used to go to Matherson's Bay on school trips... but one teacher said, there's no point in coming here anymore because there's no shellfish in the pool because it's all been taken, and this was 20 years ago."
Tīkapa Marine Bill and the Battle for Legalised Protections
In State of our Seabirds 2021, the report shows that to help our seabird populations recover and thrive, restoration of Hauraki Gulf food webs, coupled with marine protection measures that recognise highly mobile marine species, such as seabirds, must happen.
"We actually don't know if there's enough food in the Hauraki Gulf ecosystem to go around," said Whitehead.
"So, while we want all these populations to recover, and we're doing well at making breeding habitats for them, we might be wasting our time if there isn't enough food in the marine systems for these populations to sustain themselves as they are, and then also start growing again."
The Tīkapa Marine Bill is a new proposal that went through its first reading in parliament earlier this year that plans to introduce 19 new protections in the Hauraki Gulf.
These protections include two marine reserves extending off existing reserves at Te Whanganui-o-Hei/Cathedral Cove and Okakari Point, 12 high protection areas, and five seafloor protection areas.
According to DOCs website, "the areas would nearly triple protection in the Gulf from just over 6%, including the cable protection zones, to about 18%."
Baragwanath explained that since 2013, councils, the government, mana whenua, and other stakeholders from different perspectives have worked together to devise a solution for the Gulf.
Whitehead said the bill is a good start, "Goat Island and Cathedral Cove have very obviously monitored benefits on the ecosystems, so we know that those kinds of marine protected areas are really good for those habitats and the species that live inside them."
Tūturiwhatu in flight. Photo: Tiana Thorpe
Tūturiwhatu in flight. Photo: Tiana Thorpe
Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust is involved with various conservation projects in the Gulf, including protecting Te Hauturu-o-Toi (Little Barrier Island) and the Mahurangi Land Restoration Programme.
Part of Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust's role is to ensure that tangata whenua perspectives are central to conversations about improving protection frameworks.
In an email, they stated that while the Tīkapa Marine Bill presents a starting point, "we believe that there is always more work to be done. True protection requires ongoing monitoring, compliance with environmental standards, and sustained engagement with mana whenua."
So, what may not be enough with the Tīkapa protection bill? Whitehead said that the problem they're encountering is that protecting marine animals or highly mobile birds is much more complicated.
"It's easy to draw a line in the sand around specific habitats and protect those, but for creatures who move between habitats, it's a lot harder."
Another concern is what resources would be put into policing these new marine boundaries.
Pulham said, "Auckland Council does not have enough resources to police their own bylaws.
"Whitehead also agrees, saying that DOC funding has been cut significantly, and many jobs have been lost.
"They're responsible for monitoring these areas, and if they don't have the capacity, then it's a protected area on paper but not in reality."
"While it's a step in the right direction, you're talking to a conservation scientist, so it's never going to be enough."
In recent weeks, the bill has been subject to last-minute changes, which have outraged multiple conservation groups and nature lovers.
Tama Potaka, Minister of Conservation, said in a statement that "the beauty of the Gulf is also an important catalyst for economic benefits including tourism and fishing."
The last-minute changes to the final decision will allow limited commercial ring-net fishing in high-protection and seafloor protection areas.
"The change specifically benefits commercial fishermen that use ring netting; that's a very specific reason, but it is a commercial reason, as opposed to a conservation reason," said Baragwanath.
She said the changes caused anger and confusion among the stockholders involved with creating the bill, saying this is a marine protection bill, not a fisheries management bill, and should have nothing to do with fishing.
"The whole point in a highly protected area is to protect it from fishing, this risks creating a precedent for fishing in other highly protected areas."
"We are worried it doesn't meet international standards of marine protection, which New Zealand has committed to."
"If we want to keep enjoying the natural environment, we have to take care of it," said Whitehead.
Our birds are part of every Kiwi's identity, think of our name. Devoted volunteers and conservationists are upholding their protection, but there needs to be backed support from not only the government but also the public.
Whitehead said, "It's about getting people on board. You can put a marine reserve on paper, but if people don't care about it, they're not going to go along with it."
"It was Gandi that said the world has enough to meet every man's need, but it hasn't enough to meet every man's greed," Pulham told me while I sat before her that Sunday at Omaha as we discussed fishing off her precious sanctuary.
Baragwanath still has hope that there's a chance the Tīkapa Moana Marine Bill will be remodified back to what was initially agreed. The bill is likely to be passed early next year.
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