Whitebait Connection

For the last 18 months we have been assisting the Northland branch of the Whitebait Connection (part of Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust) with data collection, analysis and visualisation for their Northland Īnanga Spawning Habitat Restoration Project. The project aims to scale up the collaborative work locating, protecting and enhancing īnanga spawning habitats, alongside community engagement and capacity/capability development in the Northland region. Data is being mapped and used to prioritise habitat restoration that builds resiliency for the effects brought on by climate change and to motivate and implement actions that will improve water quality.

We created 3 mobile data collection apps; Saltwater Limit, Habitat Assessment and Spawning Activity using a combination of ESRI Field Maps and Survey123. These apps ensure the data collection is of a high quality, is easy to collect and complex calculations are performed as soon as data is entered in the field, saving time and eliminating potential errors.

The apps feed directly to an ArcGIS Online Hub, which contains the latest news about the project, maps displaying all collected data, a data editing app for ‘tidying up’ drawn polygons and lines and a dynamic data dashboard which displays stats for the project. We also analyse collected data using complex models to create predicted spawning zones and salinity gradients for each survey. The outputs help inform us about the riparian margins which could be restored or protected to improve īnanga spawning in the future.

We also produced 121 static maps for the Whitebait Connection’s reports on each surveyed river. The maps included: Main Catchment Overview, Sub Catchment Overview, Sub Catchment Landcover, Landcover Maps with Spawning Activity and Assessed Habitats, Saltwater Wedge Extent, Predicted Spawning Activity, Egg Productivity and Habitat Assessment.

We are now in the second season of data collection and it’s great to see patterns starting to emerge in the data and new surveyors using the apps. We are listening to feedback from surveyors and implementing these requests as well as continually improving the suite of services we provide. It’s great to be involved in a such a community-focused project that is helping to conserve our native habitats and species.