The following questions from schools are answered by Marine Ecologist Leigh Tait:

1. Are there still problems and threats within our marine reserves?

2. Have there been any noticeable effects from climate change in and around the harbour?

3. How many fish, for example snapper, would be a sustainable recreational limit and should there also be a size limit for the big snapper, so fish bigger than 50cm also have to be let go?

4. If there were an increasing number of sharks in the harbour, would that be good or bad?

5. What new ideas do you have for how to protect marine areas, for example, should New Zealand have more marine reserves?

6. Are there mangroves within the harbour? What do they do within the ecosystem?

7. Our school is by the ocean on the Coromandel Peninsula and there are a lot of pine forests close by. What problems are caused in the ocean when the trees are cleared and then we have a lot of rain?

8. When it is low tide, do the ika stay in the harbour or do they move about with the tide?

9. The mussels are very important, so are the sea stars that eat them good or bad and why have the numbers of the eleven-armed sea star increased so much?

10. Are there any examples near the Ōhiwa Harbour where an ecosystem has reached its tipping point and what were the consequences?

11. Can you please explain how a crab breathes underwater?

12. What is the worst human impact we are having on the ocean?

13. Have you found any fossils in the ocean?

14. What impact would the megalodon have on the ocean ecosystem if it was still alive?

15. Would there be a difference if there was no algae in the ocean?

More at https://www.learnz.org.nz/sustainableseas201/connect-with-experts