Seeing the increased action from NGOs that call for a total ban of commercial fishing using bottom trawling and Danish seine in the Hauraki Gulf made me think of this opinion letter from Captain Dixon published in the Auckland Star in 1929 (Volume LX, Issue 207, 2 September 1929, Page 6).
If you ever need to quantify species presence within a certain area or set of areas have a look at this Jupyter Notebook. It displays some key figures quantifying chiton (Class Polyplacophora) species abundance inside and outside New Zealand's marine reserves, but it can be easily customised to any given taxon and/or place.
In this new publication we evaluated, in terms of theoretical protection, the Highly Protected Areas (HPAs) proposed under the original Sea Change - Tai Timu Tai Pari Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Spatial Plan as well as the HPAs from the ministerial response Revitalising the Gulf.
The last few weeks I have spent a good amount of time writing a paper on reviewing benthic bycatch data from an area within the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) boundaries.
I was lucky enough to cover for the resident ranger in Motuihe Isand Te Motu-a-Ihenga for a weekend and the experience didn't disappoint!
Described as a "typical slice of the Hauraki Gulf" by the East Coast Bays Coastal Protection Society.(who led the MPA process back in the day), the Long Bay-Okura marine reserve hosts a good variety of nudibranches.