The Government is backing the biggest step in a generation to restore the Hauraki Gulf / te Pātaka kai a Tīkapa Moana / Te Moananui-ā-Toi.
The Government is backing the biggest step in a generation to restore the Hauraki Gulf / te Pātaka kai a Tīkapa Moana / Te Moananui-ā-Toi, with up to $26 million in new public and private investment to bring life back to the water, create jobs, and strengthen connections between people and place, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says.
"The Hauraki Gulf is one of Aotearoa/New Zealand's great taonga. For too long, it's been under pressure from pollution, sediment, and overuse. We're taking practical steps to rejuvenate it, for our children, our kaimoana, and our communities. It supports tourism, hospitality, fishing, and recreation. When the Gulf is healthy, so are our people and our economy." Mr Potaka says.
The investment supports the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Act, which establishes 19 new protected areas, places where reefs, kelp forests, and marine life can recover, while people continue to enjoy time on the moana.
The Government is investing $6 million from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) to upgrade infrastructure on Hauraki Gulf islands including Rangitoto, Tiritiri Matangi, and Kawau.
"These islands welcome more than 150,000 visitors each year," Mr Potaka says.
"Safer wharves, better walking tracks, and improved water systems will make it easier for families, schools, and tour operators to enjoy these special places, and ensure visitors leave them better than they found them.
A healthy Gulf supports jobs in tourism, hospitality, and recreation, and provides kaimoana that sustains communities across Tāmaki Makaurau, Mahurangi and the Coromandel.
In addition, a major philanthropic programme led by the NEXT Foundation will invest up to $20 million over the next five years in reef restoration, the largest effort of its kind in the Gulf's history.
"Divers and local experts will clear urchins from damaged reefs, giving kelp a chance to regrow, and creating underwater forests that bring back fish, crayfish, and shellfish," Mr Potaka says.
"Within a couple of years, those reefs will be teeming with life again, real results for our moana and for the people who depend on it."
The first $2 million from the NEXT Foundation will support pilot projects around Te Hauturu-o-Toi / Little Barrier Island, the Noises, and a research programme at Motutapu, in partnership with mana whenua, the University of Auckland, and the Department of Conservation.
This builds on substantial private investment in recent years from mana whenua and local organisations into seeding millions of shellfish in the Gulf.
"This Act and the investment behind it are about kaitiakitanga in action, looking after our environment so it can look after us," Mr Potaka says.
"I want to acknowledge the generosity of Neal and Annette Plowman and the NEXT Foundation for their leadership, and the partnership of mana whenua, conservationists, philanthropists and community groups across the Gulf."
"The Gulf adds over $5 billion of value to the country every year - it makes sense to invest here."
"In the last two years, our Government has channelled $8.5 million of IVL funding into infrastructure at Hauraki Gulf tourism hot spots, such as Cathedral Cove and Goat Island/Te Hāwere-a-Maki marine reserve. A further $1.5 million in IVL has gone towards a weed control programme across pest-free Gulf islands, supporting forest and sea birds that make these islands home."
IVL funding is in addition to $10.5 million in DOC operational funding over four years to establish these new marine protected areas.
"When the Gulf thrives, our people thrive, it's that simple."
