Sea Science: A Partnership with the Schools on Aotea Great Barrier Island to Manage Marine Debris
An 8 yr old student presents their mural at the June 2017 community hui, that depicts the marine food web to explain the impact of debris.
Aotea Great Barrier Island, the outer most island in New Zealand's stunning Hauraki Gulf is renowned for its picturesque coastal and marine environments, from coastal surf beaches on the island’s eastern shores to its harbours and bays on its western shores.
For several years, the children of Te Kura o Okiwi on Aotea Great Barrier Island have observed, collected and recorded debris on their harbour and coastal beaches. Concerned at the impact this debris was having on their marine and coastal environments, they have been accumulating evidence from their annual beach surveys.
The citizen science project, which took place from Feb - Dec 2017, was funded by MBIE’s Unlocking Curious Minds programme with in-kind support from the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. It centred around a partnership between:
Our aim was to use science in a fun and engaging way to develop an innovative and creative ‘management strategy’ to understand and manage the debris issue. The project was divided into eight stages designed to develop the children's understanding of, and experience in, the process and communication of science through engaging in activities and experiences focussed around a coastal cleanup event.
The project's central aim was to give the island's children both voice (in ways relevant to them - through art, song, dance, video and story-telling) and agency to bring about change that would lead to long-term improvement of the island’s coastal environment, in particular by working to eliminate debris from identifiable sources.
The project enabled the children and their schools to contribute to the management of their coastal region. This involved:
For several years, the children of Te Kura o Okiwi on Aotea Great Barrier Island have observed, collected and recorded debris on their harbour and coastal beaches. Concerned at the impact this debris was having on their marine and coastal environments, they have been accumulating evidence from their annual beach surveys.
The citizen science project, which took place from Feb - Dec 2017, was funded by MBIE’s Unlocking Curious Minds programme with in-kind support from the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. It centred around a partnership between:
- The pupils and teachers of Te Kura o Okiwi (Okiwi School)
- The pupils and teachers of the other two primary schools on Aotea Great Barrier Island (Kaitoke and Mulberry Grove)
- Myself as a science communication specialist,
- My colleague Joe Fagan as a coastal scientist
- and three University of Auckland undergraduate/postgraduate students.
Our aim was to use science in a fun and engaging way to develop an innovative and creative ‘management strategy’ to understand and manage the debris issue. The project was divided into eight stages designed to develop the children's understanding of, and experience in, the process and communication of science through engaging in activities and experiences focussed around a coastal cleanup event.
The project's central aim was to give the island's children both voice (in ways relevant to them - through art, song, dance, video and story-telling) and agency to bring about change that would lead to long-term improvement of the island’s coastal environment, in particular by working to eliminate debris from identifiable sources.
The project enabled the children and their schools to contribute to the management of their coastal region. This involved:
- A large section of coastal environment being cleaned by the schools in March 2017 - in the north (Port Fitzroy), central zone (Kaitoke Beach) and south Mulberry Grove Beach - the data collected from these clean-ups formed the 'evidence' for the project.
- A whole of island hui - which was attended by the schools, their whanau and members of the community to highlight issues around marine debris and to show the community what the children were learning and doing. You can find out more about this on the Curious Minds website.
- A collection of scientific reports were written by the three schools - in their language - in the form of video, sculpture and art (see above and below), song and story telling that told the story of their journey and presented their findings.
- A community beach clean up was undertaken by Mulberry Grove School in conjunction with the University team to build greater awareness about marine debris in the wider community.
- Senior school students attended and contributed to lectures at the University of Auckland - talking to around 350 science communication and environmental science students about their project.
- A stakeholder meeting was undertaken with the owners of the mussel farms to make them aware of the problem of the lanyards washing up on Aotea beaches.
- Mussel farm owners visited Okiwi School to discuss the issue of the lanyards and agreed to continuing dialogue with the schools to find a solution.
- The fishing company that owns the mussel farms provided a large fishing boat to assist with the 2018 Okiwi beach clean up.
A 6 yr old uses debris to create a sculpture to depict the effect of glass shards found on their beaches.
A small selection of "data" - (mussel lanyards) collected from the northern beaches visually displayed as a hat.
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Made entirely from debris, 'Mangopare' the hammerhead shark, is recognised by mana whenua as the protector of Aotea. The children said - "what are humans doing to protect it".
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Some of the members of the University Sea Science Team - Maraea, Marie, Joe and Brittany
Collecting debris on the long beautiful and remote Kaitoke Beach in March 2017.
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