Environment – Aotea Green – Great Barrier Island News – Barrier.news – Aotea Great Barrier Island News

A mound of dumped tyres in native bush — the same material researchers say is now the country’s largest source of microplastics. Photo / RNZ

Tyre Particles Branded Biggest Microplastic Source in Hauraki Gulf

Marine researchers in Auckland have discovered what is making up the biggest single source of microplastics. They found tiny pieces of vehicle tyres were polluting coastal waters and almost half of the rubber that shed on our roads ended up…

Pōhutukawa in bloom. Photo / Robyn Jaquiery

Environment - Aotea Green

Are pōhutukawa trees flowering early this year? A botanist explains

Flowering pōhutukawa trees are the sign summer is here – and many we have seen are already in full bloom. But are they flowering earlier this year? Ecologist and botanist Associate Professor Bruce Burns, from the University of Auckland, says…

An adult black petrel cruises over the waters of the Hauraki Gulf. Photo / Dan Burgin / WMIL

Black Petrels get a lifeline with new conservation push

Great Barrier’s endangered Black Petrels are getting a major boost, with a new three-year programme aimed at improving chick survival and strengthening the local population. With just 5,000 breeding pairs remaining, scientists hope unprecedented tracking and monitoring will give these…

25 Years of Windy Hill. Photo / AoteaGBI.news

Windy Hill cuts poison use — and still outperforms unmanaged bush

The long-running Windy Hill Sanctuary on the island’s south-east has reduced its use of poison by two-thirds while continuing to record some of the lowest pest levels in the Hauraki Gulf. The wildlife sanctuary, established more than 25 years ago…

A Fullers ferry crosses the Hauraki Gulf from Waiheke Island towards Auckland. The gulf is the focus of new legislation expanding marine protection zones across the region.

Environment - Aotea Green

$6 million for Gulf island upgrades

The Government has announced $6 million for upgrades to Hauraki Gulf island infrastructure — part of what Conservation Minister Tama Potaka calls “the biggest step in a generation to restore the Hauraki Gulf / te Pātaka kai a Tīkapa Moana…

New Marine Protections for Hauraki Gulf Clear Parliament

Legislation expanding marine protection across the Hauraki Gulf has passed its third and final reading in Parliament, despite criticism over a last-minute exemption allowing commercial ring-net fishing in some of the new restricted zones. The Hauraki Gulf Tīkapa Moana Marine…

This bright-green invasive caulerpa seaweed is smothering the delicate marine ecosystem on Great Barrier Island. Photo / Glenn Edney

Caulerpa bans lifted in key bays, but whole island now a controlled area

The Ministry for Primary Industries has eased anchoring bans in several Aotea harbours after the invasive seaweed Caulerpa began dying off in places where it was first discovered, but at the same time MPI’s expanded the Controlled Area to cover…

Aotea Health’s rongoā Māori skincare range on display at the new Auckland International Airport concept store.

Aotea Expands its Rongoā Māori Reach with New Airport Concept Store

Aotea Health, the company that took Great Barrier Island and rongoā Māori to the world through its partnership with Air New Zealand, is expanding again with a new concept store at Auckland International Airport. Founded by Tama Toki, a former…

Blood moon as dark skies reveal the total lunar eclipse.

Blood Moon Set to Rise Over Aotea on Monday Morning

Stargazers on Aotea will be treated to a total lunar eclipse early on Monday 8 September, with the “blood moon” set to create a spectacular dawn display. The eclipse begins in the early hours, with the first stages starting at…

Aerial view of Tuvalu’s capital, Funafuti, 2011. Tuvalu is a remote country of low lying atolls, making it vulnerable to climate change. Photo: Lily-Anne Homasi / DFAT / CC

Environment - Aotea Green

What will happen to the legal status of ‘sinking’ island nations when their land is gone?

By Avidan Kent, University of East Anglia and Zana Syla, University of East Anglia Small island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Maldives and Marshall Islands are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Rising seas, stronger storms, freshwater shortages and damaged…