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Friday 23 November 2018

Marine Metre Squared - Citizen Science

On Thursday, 28 learners and seven parent volunteers joined Mrs Daniel, Mrs Venville, environmentalist Mels Barton & marine biologist Emma on a beach trip with a difference.

We braved the thick mud of the Tamaki Estuary to collect data on the sea life. Our parent volunteers went above and beyond assisting with carefully recording data and retrieving children stuck in the mud. Thank you! Only one gumboot was lost completely.

Despite looks there's lots living down at the Rotary Walkway at low tide; shrimps, fish, crabs, sea worms, snails and lots of cockles. Ryan found an as yet unidentified bright green aquatic worm and Billy found an albino mud crab.  We'll upload our findings for scientists at Otago University to track trends in our marine health.

How cool is it to be hanging out with real scientists in the field and helping collect data for a nationwide study.

We're looking forward to when Mels Barton returns to Sunnyhills so we can compare our data with our last trip.








4 comments:

  1. Fabulous opportunity to do our part to look after our marine environment

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  2. I lost my gumboot in the mud so if you find one is probably mine.

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  3. I lost my gumboot in there so if you ever find one it's probably mine

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    1. It was a cool way to spend the afternoon. Great that we could help out Mel the Marine biologist with her research.

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