Posted on Tuesday 12 September 2017

Workshop to develop EBM tools

In August, we held a follow up workshop in Nelson for regional stakeholders and iwi. Their input was extremely valuable for our researchers developing ecosystem models and tools, which will be used for scenario testing.

It was great to see the return of many of the participants from the first workshop, along with new faces from additional stakeholder groups such as fishing and tourism.

Chris Cornelisen, Programme Leader of Managed Seas: “It is encouraging to see people coming together around addressing common concerns in Tasman and Golden Bays – and being aware of others' interests. Participants were mindful that some iwi and sectors were not represented, and that it will be important to include their input.”

Stew Robertson, Director of Abel Tasman Eco Tours and founder of the Tasman Bay Guardians community group: “I found the meeting to be very valuable, and it was empowering to learn what others are thinking in this space. These processes need to come from the people with the support of institutions and government departments.”

The workshop:

• Updated participants on progress since the first workshop
• Gave participants the opportunity to confirm, and give further guidance on, appropriate management scenarios to test – we are developing a number of complementary models and tools, which vary in detail and scope so will tackle different questions and scenarios
• Gave participants the opportunity to engage in the early stages of our Trialling EBM case study project, which is addressing the issue of seabed health in Tasman and Golden Bays

Ian Tuck, Project Leader of Ecosystem models: “Identifying the local priorities for management questions, and key factors they want to measure, was extremely useful for developing our models and determining how we should compare scenario performance.”

There were representatives from: Abel Tasman Eco Tours, DOC, Forest & Bird, Marine Farming Association, MfE, MPI, Nelson City Council, Nelson Forests, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Tama, Sanford, Southern Inshore Fisheries, Tasman District Council, and a tourism/recreation consultant.

Related page

• Nelson workshop for iwi and stakeholders