Making waves in Aotearoa | Meet the tamariki diving into action
- Lorna Doogan
- 2 days ago
- 9 min read
Written and photographed by Lorna Doogan - National Coordinator.
Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust ran the 24th annual Poor Knights competition trip on Friday 23rd May, sponsored by The Bobby Stafford-Bush Foundation and Dive! Tutukaka.
The Experiencing Marine Reserves - EMR programme started in Tai Tokerau/Northland in 2001 with just three schools and the idea of comparing unprotected marine areas to fully protected marine areas with water safety messages embedded throughout the programme. Seeing huge tāmure/snapper swimming has inspired thousands of kids to take action for the marine environment and exercise kaitiakitanga - guardianship for their local beach or harbour.
Students came from the Far North to Nelson to experience one of Aotearoa's oldest marine reserves. Students are selected based on action projects they have undertaken and the enthusiasm they show when studying & experiencing the marine environment. The national delivery of the EMR programme is thanks to a network of provider organisations across the country.
For this year's trip we had 31 students and guardians representing 27 schools from 7 regions of Aotearoa including Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Taranaki, Gisborne, Wellington, & Nelson. Since 2002, we have taken representatives from 451 schools, totalling 622 students! Each student attends with a parent or guardian and its a chance to connect whānau to the environment.
In addition to the opportunity to represent their school or region for the EMR Action prize, we offer the EMR Ocean Art prize. The Bobby Stafford-Bush Foundation supports this special prize for young kiwis that have experienced the marine environment with EMR and display that passion and experience through art.
Fay (12), "It's been like so incredible. I've been by the sea, but I've never like experienced anything like this. Going and seeing all the fish and stuff down there was just so cool. I would have never been able to experience this if it wasn't for you guys. I'm going to take away this experience and remember it for my whole life."
This is the seventh year we have offered the Darren Shields | Wettie Representative, for a promising rangatahi that shows talent for freediving. This year's winner was Te Rau Karora Raharaha - an up and coming Marine Mahi for Rangatahi Cadet.
On board the vessel ‘Perfect Day’ our snorkel site this year was South Harbour including Blue Mao Mao Arch, this bay has been protected by no-take status since 1981. Participants were delighted to see many schools of blue maomao, black angel fish, tāmure/snapper galore and the friendly sandagers wrasse. A big highlight for many was exploring the caves and witnessing the bright blue glow of the water. With this being the first time most of the students and guardians had ever visited Aorangi and Tawhiti Rangi.
Acknowledgements
This trip wouldn’t be possible without the support of Dive! Tutukaka and the Bobby Stafford-Bush Foundation. It also has support from Lotteries, Whangarei Coastal Commuters, Schnappa Rock and the Matapouri Holiday Units.
Tawhiti Rahi and Aorangi - The Poor Knights Islands are in the rohe of Ngāti Wai and we appreciate being able to visit the moana around these taonga.
If you would like to get your school involved in our programme and have a chance of going on this once in a lifetime trip express your interest in a school programme here. Feel free to get in touch with our awesome coordinators around Aotearoa.
Big thanks to our regional provider partners Friends of Te Whanganui o Hei Marine Reserve Trust, Mountains to Sea Wellington, Tasman Bay Guardians, Nga Motu Marine Reserve Society, He Awa Ora, He Tai Ora, Healthy Rivers, Living Sea
Student list 2025
Northland
Bay of Islands International Academy | Samuel Morrison | Mokai Morrison |
One Tree Point School | Otis Roughton | Paul Roughton |
Otaika Homeschool Group | Matilda Mason | Angela Mason |
Onerahi primary school | Israel Rapana | Chloe Peters |
Ngunguru School | Sammy Evans | Ben Evans |
Aranga School | Kia Ora Taua | Megan Knott |
Tinopai School | Stellar Watson | Stef Soderling |
Tinopai School | Tangaroa Rogers | Peter Rogers |
He Puna Ruku Mātauranga o Whangaruru | Maumahara Haika | Vania Haika |
Tangaroa and Stella, "From here we will use our artwork to create a mural to inform the our fauna and wider community on the importance of protecting our marine, biodiversity and marine issues. We are keeping an eye on our local waterways and its sediment health. We do this by taking monthly water samples where the tamariki are shown how to collect, how to do collect samples, undertake water testing and what the tests measure."
Maumahara, "Probably my favourite thing was to swim around the caves."
Angela & Matilda, "Seeing the dolphins, seeing the baby seal. Seeing the fish. So many fish. Big ones and little ones. Swimming over top of blue. Swimming over mao mao schools. It was unreal. Absolutely unreal. As part of an action, my daughter wrote a speech about marine reserves and said it at her surf lifesaving club in front of 100 people."
Megan, "So we did an EMR programme last year and went to Tinopai and out to Goat Island. Kia Ora was just one of our most engaged and enthusiastic students on those trips. So we did a little project that was based on comparing and contrasting an area that wasn't a marine reserve with a protected area."
Stef, " I was a little bit hesitant. But as soon as I got in the water today, I was immediately just transformed and so amazing. I can't believe that I came so close to not getting in the water. There was this whole other world below the water. It's incredible to have the opportunity to say that I've lived in this area my whole life, growing up, and never had the opportunity to come out.
Auckland
Royal Oak Intermediate School | Ruby Jones | Lindsay Jones |
Mangere Central School | Harper Ruby Murray | Mark Murray |
Glendowie School | Kaden Mark Hurdley | Mark Hurdley |
Mt Carmel School (Meadowbank) | Ryan Morgan | Fraser Morgan |
St Ignatius Catholic School (St Heliers) | Elliott Coles | Stephen Coles |
Tapora School | Oliver Brian Robinson | Simon Robinson |
Leigh School | Greta Jarrett | Ben Jarrett |
Hobsonville Point Primary School | Olivia Stevens | Peter Stevens |
Redhill School | Shayaan khan | Sharal khan |
Tapora School | Kayleigh Judd | Jen Judd |
Mangere Central School | Kaylea Fa'aesea | Rebecca Fa'aesea |
St Cuthbert's College | Eva Muir | Keely Muir |
Kayleigh & Jen, "I saw kina, snapper and a bunch of sea sponges. [the opportunity] means quite a lot because we go swimming at the regular beach and you don't have the opportunity to snorkel around or see anything because you can't breathe underwater unless you got a snorkel. And we don't have snorkels. It's just fantastic. I don't think it's something that I would have done without coming on this trip, but now I've been on the trip. I would definitely want to do it again. And it's way deeper than I would have gone snorkeling if I had known."
Kaden, "We have been doing clean ups for our action projects. We started back in 2023, our first cleanup we totaled 46kg and our second one, was 48kg. This was a really fun experience for me. I've never experienced anything like it. Thank you to everybody, all of the organisations that had help supported doing this trip."
Oliver and Simon, "I've never been to the Poor Knights before. I saw the kingfish. I was excited at start, but then it got pretty cold and I stopped swimming. When we were offered to come on this opportunity, we were just over the moon and had a lot of jealous, friends and family who have loved to have had this opportunity as well."
Olivia, "I made this project about global warming and turtles. In my diorama, I put sand on one side of a container and ice on the other to represent Antarctica, and then the ice would melt, and flood all the turtle eggs."
Kaylea, "I made an outfit using only recycled products. And I made a video about the trips we went on. And my favorite part about this trip was seeing that cave and the fishies crowding up in it, it was really pretty."
Taranaki
New Plymouth Girls' High School | Matilda Randall | Belinda Randall |
Highlands Intermediate | Eve Cross | Rachel Cross |
Matilda, " My art project was about the difference between what it's like in a marine reserve and out of the marine reserve.
Belinda, "We've just had such an amazing experience. It's been incredible to be able to see a place that we otherwise probably would never have gone to, and to be able to see the incredible things that are in that environment.
Eve & Rachel, "I was on the boat thinking there's not gonna be anything under there and then as soon as I went under, I was like, wow. That was a lot of color and fish straight away. In the cave, the sponges on the walls and the light coming through."
Coromandel
Te Rerenga School | Fay Devoy | Vicki Devoy |
Puriri School | Axel Falwasser | Harley Baxter |
Axel (6) - "It was scary [putting my head beneath the surface] in the deep blue water and the cave."
Harley, "Big thank you to Lorna and the crew. You guys are absolutely amazing. You made us all feel so at home. This is my home, and it's just the most wonderful environment. And I'll be recommending to everyone I talk to."
Fay, "It's been like so incredible. I've been by the sea, but I've never like experienced anything like this. Going and seeing all the fish and stuff down there was just so cool. I would have never been able to experience this if it wasn't for you guys. I'm going to take away this experience and remember it for my whole life."
Vicki, " I love being near the sea, but very rarely go into the sea. So for me, this was, a big first time snorkelling."
Gisborne
Te Wharau School (Gisborne) | Esmeralda Catherine Copeland | Amanda Maclean |
Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu | Matai Maurice Lasserre Lenth | Christopher Lenth |
Esmeralda, "I loved seeing the dolphins".
Amanda, "To have been invited to come along, to take part and be amongst a group of other people who are similar levels of not sureness. All getting to have a go and learn together and to find out what there is for us to care about in the ocean."
Matai, "There was a stingray at the bottom when we first got out, and I like how kingfish love to hang around the boat. It was a lot deeper that Te Tapuwae o Rongokako. There was a lot more diversity, a lot more different fish. The cave is really cool. The way the noise amplified was really cool."
Chris, " It's been amazing. I've never snorkeled before. I'm a person that comes from the middle of a big landmass (USA). So yeah, it's absolutely mind blowing. Just to lay there in the water looking at colours, so beautiful. Just what an amazing experience to be able to to do this.
Wellington
Wilford School | Amelia Hill | Bex Wilson |
Wilford School | Leyla Egal Ali | Rebekka Sippel |
Amelia, "It was a little bit scary, but once I got my face in the water, it was really cold. I saw a carpet shark."
Bex, 'I think we've both gained so much from this trip. It's been incredible. Connecting with some amazing people and, really diverse bunch. It's about the tamariki. But there's a lot of adults that have rediscovered their joy for the sea as well."
Leyla, "For my project, some of my friends and I wrote a song, a cover of Seven Rings by Arianna Grande and made it about picking up rubbish instead of money. We also did a beach clean up and showed our video around to help awareness. I thought it was going to be really cold, but actually turned out to be, like quite warm. Straight away, when I put my head down in the water, I saw lots of fish and it looks really pretty and clear."
Rebekka, "To go to such a special location to snorkel, and just feeling so connected to the ocean, the animals that live there, the environment. It was a great opportunity to just raise awareness. We have the responsibility to look after the marine environment as much as we do on land."
Nelson/Tasman
Nelson Intermediate School | Emma Miller | Alyce Hughes |
Riwaka School | Nikita Faifua | Hayley Brown |
Emma, "I've never been to the Poor Knights, but it was a really cool experience going there. And I loved the snapper because I had a little one following me around while I was snorkelling, and he was really cool.
Alyce, "Highlight for me was actually being able to personally experience the passion that my daughter has. So to be up close, personal with the environment. Never been snorkeling before. So it's been a huge opportunity for us."
Nikita, "So I flew from Nelson to Auckland to the Whangārei airport, and then I got a bus from the airport to Matapouri. It was my first time flying, so it was exciting to get a window seat and see all the hills below."
Hayley, "Really, really special experience. Kaitiakitanga is something that sits very close to how we live and who we are as people. To get to be a part of something that was funded by the Bobby Stafford-Bush Foundation. Absolutely beautiful to see a family, give back to families like us to be able to experience the marine life. It's something that I don't think you can fully understand until you experience it firsthand."
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