November 08, 2022
Eel food focus for Marsden Fund research
Cawthron Institute researchers are looking whether restoring inanga populations will help stop the decline of tuna numbers in Aotearoa’s rivers and streams.
Fresh water ecologist Simon Stewart says previous conservation efforts have focused on removing barriers to eel migration such as dams and weirs.
The latest Marsden-funded project will instead look at the lowland wetlands where whitebait come to spawn.
“We look at the habitat where eel are living and we often do quite a bit of restoration on that but this would be looking at the habitat where their food is living or limiting their food. Generally that is our lowland wetlands, That is where we would really be wanting to improve habitat,” Dr Stewart says.
He says integrating mātauranga Māori-aligned concepts of holistic ecosystem management into freshwater restoration is critical, and he’s partnering with rūnaka in Murihiku, Tai Poutini and Te Waihora, combining field experiments, modelling and new growth monitoring tools.