Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust is launching Mahere Ārai Moana Raumati, a summer marine monitoring programme to ramp up efforts to fight the invasive seaweed, exotic caulerpa, in Te Moananui-ā-Toi Hauraki Gulf.

Exotic caulerpa, discovered near Kawau Island in July, is a foreign seaweed that forms dense mats across the seabed, smothering native plants and disrupting the fragile marine ecosystem that our kai moana, like crayfish and scallops, rely on.

The programme sits under Te Au ō Moana, the trust’s wider oceans strategy for all issues related to the marine ecosystem. The summer programme will be an extension of the trust’s efforts, which began in July this year when Te Wero Nui was launched to raise awareness of the discovery of caulerpa in Te Moananui-ā-Toi.

Ngāti manuhiri settlement trust chief executive officer Nicola MacDonald.

“We are incredibly concerned at the pace with which officials have responded to this biosecurity threat so are taking steps to stop it from having an irreversible impact,” trust’s chief executive Nicola MacDonald said.

“For the past six months we have led work to combat caulerpa and endeavoured to work with officials, but we are no longer willing to wait for reports and hui before decisive action is taken.”

The trust is now expanding its efforts to protect all aspects of Te Moananui-ā-Toi with Te Au ō Moana, and users within the rohe should expect to see more of them in and around the moana this summer.

Te Au ō Moana includes the creation and distribution of informational resources, boats on the water to assist as needed, disposable bags for boaties and fishers to handle caulerpa if it’s found, and informational resources to support all users of Te Moananui-ā-Toi.