Estuarine health
Understanding the risks to estuarine habitats is fundamental to establishing a defensible and cost-effective long-term estuary monitoring programme for the Nelson region.
For this reason, Nelson City Council contracted Wriggle Coastal Management to consolidate existing information on the four largest estuaries in the Nelson region; Waimea Inlet, Nelson Haven, Delaware Inlet and Kokorua Inlet. A formal risk-based approach was used to determine estuary vulnerability, identify key stressors, such as excessive sediment, nutrients, pathogens, toxins, or habitat changes. Established assessment criteria have been applied to determine the likely influence of stressors on estuary condition.
From this review in 2017, monitoring indicators and approaches have been defined for each estuary along with any data gaps, and recommendations made regarding long term estuarine monitoring. A ten-year long term monitoring and reporting programme has been scheduled to commence in 2018.
Regional estuarine monitoring and vulnerability assessment 2017 (2.5MB PDF)