Experiencing Marine Reserves

This last week I got a chance to talk to teachers at Mercury Bay Area School about their involvement in the Experiencing Marine Reserves programme.

Paul Cook, a teacher in the secondary side of the school, runs the Marine Academy. This is a part of the school where students learn to dive (through the local dive shop), and also learn about the marine environment and the way people use it, through recreation and employment. The academy makes good use of the local Te Whanganui-a-hei marine reserve.

Year 8 students at the school all take part in Experiencing Marine Reserves, a programme that teaches snorkeling skills and awareness of the marine environment. They use an inquiry approach to learning. They are able to talk about and share their learning.

Of course, I had to check out their playground too, and went for a snorkel at Gemstone Bay in the Te Whanganui-a-hei reserve. The water was beautiful, warm and clear. I was immediately struck by the contrast between here, and places I had dived outside of the reserve. There were far more fish and crayfish inside the reserve, but most noticeable was the amount of seaweed. Outside of the reserve there are numerous “kina barrens”, areas where the kina have removed all the seaweed, and there is only bare rock, because the snapper and crayfish in particular have been overfished. They are the main predators of kina. There were rock faces covered in beautiful anemones, and jellyfish of all different shapes and sizes – not a bad classroom for the students at Mercury Bay Area School!