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Environmental education

Te aki i te hunga tangata te tiaki inanga... Whitebait Connection provides an inquiry and action based environmental education programme for schools and communities focusing on the health of our streams, rivers and wetlands

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Action outcomes

Participants are inspired to take action for their local catchment including riparian restoration, fencing, stream monitoring, writing letters to government and stream/river clean ups.

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Community engagement

Since 2002, we have been raising awareness of the effects of land-use on the health of our streams, rivers, estuaries and the sea, using whitebait as a medium.

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Conservation Action

As well as supporting communities to take action for freshwater, we sometimes help to lead this action in the form of water quality monitoring, whitebait spawning habitat surveys, habitat enhancement or creation, riparian planting, fencing and pest control, fish passage barrier identification, and stormwater litter monitoring.

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Russell School Programme, 2022

In term 2 of 2022 Whitebait Connection Coordinator Ray worked with students from Russell School for programme delivery. This programme was funded by Foundation North

As part of the programme the students went on a field trip to the Maiki Hill awa for a field investigation. These were the results of the investigation: 

  • Habitat Assessment: There was a good amount of shade over the stream and a good root system from native plants and trees holding the banks together.
  • Clarity: 70-80cm
  • Temperature: 12-14 degrees celcius
  • pH: 7
  • Conductivity: 140-250
  • Macroinvertebrates: midges, snails, spiny-gilled mayflies
  • Fish: 4 banded kokopu were caught in the traps over night

A group of people fishing

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Overall, the students thought the stream was quite healthy based on their results.