Tākoketai

Tāiko/ Black Petrel

I just got back from 3 nights on Great Barrier Island where I documented a Black petrel / tākoketai blessing by local iwi. I then continued up the mountain with scientists and fisheries people who are working together to save the species. Southern Seabird Solutions are doing an amazing job of getting fishers involved in saving them. This collaborative approach is really inspiring, the conversation was serious but upbeat. However the big surprise for me was how close we got to these birds, you could just sit and have a chat with them! I really did not need my zoom lenses!

PICTURED: Tākoketai / Black Petrel, Mt Hobson, Great Barrier Island, New Zealand

Fledged

Newly fledged NZ Dotterel chick on the sports fields at Point England. Pictured with parent Bottom right.
Newly fledged NZ Dotterel chick on the sports fields at Point England. Pictured with parent Bottom right.

It’s been nearly 3 years of trapping, monitoring, experimenting and public education but we have finally fledged a Northern New Zealand Dotterel at Point England. The birds have also been working hard, at least 8 adults making 15 or more nests in that time period. What a huge amount of work – making animals that are in danger of extinction is really hard. I have new respect for all those working in conservation.

Why we need to do something to fix our freshwater

NZ Herald

Grave warning for NZ’s freshwater life

NZ’s ‘clean environment’ under threat

Water pollution – we can fix it

Most rivers in New Zealand too dirty for a swim

Dairy conversions still hurting our lakes and rivers – commissioner

Dairying’s environmental harm a ‘zero sum’ – study

Stuff

Many NZ rivers unsafe for swimming

Dairy continues to damage water quality

Explainer: 98% Pure NZ

Cooking oil the tip of the iceberg for polluted Canterbury waterways

New Zealand’s ‘high risk’ beaches for water quality

Manawatu River ‘among worst in the west

ONE NEWS

NZ water quality getting worse – report

Completely backwards step for freshwater – expert
Is New Zealand really clean and green? A new report suggests we’re not

‘Massive intensification of dairy farming’ is killing freshwater fish – expert

TV3 NEWS

Water quality getting worse – report

Labour: Govt failing on water quality

Lake water quality deteriorating – Smith

Cities urged to act on water quality

Kiwis too optimistic about water quality

NZ walk to raise water quality awareness

Changes to land use bad for water quality – Commisioner

Some farmers refuse to comply with water quality standards

Dairying blamed for damaging South Island water quality

Labour criticise Govt’s three year delay on water quality laws

Radio NZ

Public ‘misled’ over river water quality

Farming damaging environment – report

Environment report depressing – opposition

Deadline to fix Canterbury rivers missed

Freshwater species disappearing rapidly

No prosecution over Tukituki River pollution

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment

Environment Commissioner warns water quality is “not out of the woods yet

Water quality: Nutrients

Water quality: Vulnerability & mitigation

Water quality: Changing land use

Water quality: Policy

Managing water quality: Examining the 2014 National Policy Statement

Thanks to Tom for the links

Silos

snapper

Yesterday I once again attended the Hauraki Gulf Forum’s annual seminar. When I first saw that the lineup included Volker Kuntzsch from Sanford I cringed. I personally don’t distinguish eating our native fish from eating our native birds, and I am deeply saddened by the relative emptiness or the Hauraki Gulf. The previous year HGF had a fisher (Adam Clow) on stage and although it was hard to watch I really admired the changes he was making to reduce his impact on seabirds. But Sanfords has done so much damage over the decades, I had previously read their PR and latest Annual Report and I was unconvinced that they were doing anything more than trying to fix their brand. I didn’t laugh with the audience as he charismatically joked about us being a tough crowd. But it was nice to see him reflect on what NIWA had just been saying about sediment and desertification – I have hope that one day the Seafood industry will put serious money into lobbying Fonterra to reduce their pollution of our waterways.

However like the rest of the audience I was blown away by his final slide. He said he was happy to pull out of the Hauraki Gulf! (I think they have about 9 of the 50 or so boats that commercially fish the gulf.) But on one condition, recreation fishers must report their catch. Apparently it’s done overseas, but of course voluntary reporting of recreational fishing catch must be very unscientific, why is he doing this? Because it’s hard to report? To shift the blame? Because catch in the Hauraki Gulf is low ROI? Or because they are being kicked out anyway? Who knows, fishing politics is very complex.

The awesome thing was Scott Macindoe from the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council was in the audience and the two decided to chat about solutions. We all cheered, including me. It takes a lot of courage to invite those who profit from environmental degradation to these events and even more courage for those businesses to show up. But if we don’t emerge from our silos then we are just going to get more of the same. I am inspired.

Predators in our midst

A dead possum on a main road (near my house) in suburban Auckland.
A dead possum on a main road (near my house) in suburban Auckland.

When I first started trapping I was amazed by the quantity of Possums I caught. I worked multiple trapping lines in the city that were surrounded by houses, roads and waterways. Where were the possums coming from?

There were two articles about local rat ‘attacks’ Rat chews ear of sleeping 9-year-old & School warns students over rats after teen bitten by dying rodent recently. And they got me thinking again… where do they come from? Do the rats really come from the bush like the article claims or are the rats just as dense in suburbia? And what of the possums? Maybe it’s time we put some tracking tunnels and wax tags up in our backyards because if we really want a Predator Free NZ we are going to have to start at home.

Drones on farms

Cow drone

In this post I discuss solutions to New Zealand’s nitrogen pollution issue.

While I was at Gather yesterday I had two more ideas.

1. Barking Drones
Drones can already herd sheep. I’m sure if they barked they could herd cows. Moving cow campsites every night would distribute the Critical Source Areas (CSAs) and have a significant impact. A really smart drone might even be able to move an individual cow three meters south east to avoid an existing urine patch or move them mid-event!

2. Top-dressing Drones
Instead of one large chemical dump, drones could be used to distribute tiny payloads to targeted sites. They could be solar powered and use the internet to predict rainfall.

There is no reason the same drone could not do both jobs. They would both build a map of nitrogen distribution over time… smart farming.

UPDATE
With rotational grazing on Dairy farms the campsites are less of an issues. So braking drones would be best used in Beef farms or run off areas (dry stock).

I did the math on using a splash drone (all weather) for fertiliser application:

Splash Drone $2,200. 45kph, 35min to charge, 17min flight time, Max wind speed 40 kmph, Lift 1kg.
I will assume 1 minute to get payload.
45kmph speed for 15mins = 11.25km travelled.
The average NZ Dairy farm is 150ha. 1 ha = 200m return flight.
The done needs to be able to fly 150*200 30,000m or 30km
So the drone either needs to be in the middle of the farm, carry more battery and less payload or the farm needs two drones.
Equip farm with sensors so drone can fly 24hrs by itself.
35min charge + 20 minute run + refuelling = 26 trips per day or 26kg per day, 9,490kg PA.
94 kg N/ha/yr = 14,100 kg PA.

So you would need 1.3 drone stations on the average farm, but the hope is that with regular and targeted applications volume can drop dramatically. It would require a very large solar array, maybe a 20K system with big batteries if you are flying at night.