Ecological Integrity:
Air New Zealand has invested in DOCs flagship Ecological Integrity programme, enabling an expanded marine reserve research and monitoring programme to help DOC scientists better understand the diversity of our marine environment. The goal of the Ecological Integrity programme is to develop a monitoring and reporting framework as a science tool to enable comprehensive and integrated monitoring of marine ecosystem health and marine protected areas.
Sentinel Sites:
The Sentinel Site programme builds on the work completed under the Ecological Integrity programme. This programme is focussed on the creation of a national network of sentinel sites as centres of collaborative research and monitoring. Goal of this work is to build a significant base of science knowledge in some of our key marine protected areas to grow our understanding of the overall state of New Zealands marine environment.
Outcomes of the programme:
Increase the overall understanding of New Zealands biodiversity and marine reserves
Increase our understanding of the pressures facing our marine ecosystems to allow New Zealand marine leaders and the community to be better equipped to respond to them
Demonstrate the value of Marine Protected Areas.