Estuary Monitoring & Investigation Services

According to the Council’s statutory and strategic obligations, we need to be able to answer the following key questions about our estuaries: • What is the state and trend of ecosystem health estuaries in Tasman? This is answered through 'State of the Environment' (SOE) monitoring. At this stage this is only undertaken in six key at-risk estuaries. o what is the baseline, current and target attribute states needed for setting policy direction. o Along with recording the extent of various habitats, numbers of particular invertebrates, birds, numbers of fish; muddiness, macroalgal cover etc, what is the overall state of the estuary. • What is the potential impact of land uses, infrastructure or major activities on estuary health, including from the contributing catchments. • What are the main opportunities for improvement or enhancement? Including of key habitats that we have lost a large proportion of, or that we are losing. What are the priority sites?