One of our clean up crews ready to hit the water.
Every day thousands pass through the Motu Manawa Marine Reserve, a 501 ha stretch of estuary in the upper reaches of the Waitemata Harbour. Many of these thousands, travelling along Tāmaki Makaurau's North Western Motorway are unaware of its protection status. Across two events in June and July a few keen locals took a different path, exploring the reserve by kayak as part of our Motu Manawa Kayak Clean Ups. Read on to find out more, and click here to view the full photo album.
Participants pick through the shell banks of Motu Manawa.
Paddling north the shell banks of Motu-Manawa/Pollen Island and Traherne Island were our first stop, areas only accessible from the sea. There was a mixture of surprise and concern, as the shell banks were a hotspot for microplastics likely acting as sieves in this highly tidal zone. In a short period of time, thousands of bottle caps, food wrappers, tiny nurdles, and much more were removed, with more found beneath each layer of shells.
Participants enjoying the warm day and calm waiters of the Waitemata
The teams then paddled under the motorway, exploring further into the reserve and the lower reaches of Te Auaunga Oakley Creek. While paddling, larger pieces of rubbish were fished from the riparian margins or hanging branches of the mangroves.
Removing rubbish from Te Auaunga Creek, before it can reach the reserve.
Every year millions of tonnes of waste end up in our rivers and oceans, and it was disheartening to see large amount rubbish (largely plastics) collected in one of our marine reserves. But, through the action of 93 committed participants, over 135 kg of rubbish was removed from the Motu Manawa Marine Reserve. It was encouraging to see the dedication of all those in attendance, and the desire to do more to improve te taiao. Thank you to all of you for your time and your hard mahi!
Paddling amongst the mangroves of Motu Manawa Marine Reserve.
A massive thank you to the Albert Eden Local Board, Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa and The Bobby Stafford-Bush Foundation for funding these events, the incredible Auckland Sea Kayaks team for facilitating our on water exploration, and our wonderful team of volunteers! If you are keen to join us on future events we will have several over winter so make sure to follow us and check out our event page on Eventbrite to register.
The EMR and ASK crew with rubbish collected during the second clean up!
If you would like to support our organisation and help us reach more people with our marine and freshwater engagement initiates, you can donate or sign up as a volunteer below.
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