Reotahi Rocks!!!

Whoa!  We had just arrived at Reotahi Bay and we are already into it.  Firstly, group five had to do a colouring comptition and boy it was it hard to do.  Secondly, we went for a walk to the old Reotahi Freezing works.  It was built in 1918, and was the first freezing works to be built in the world!  Refridgeration was also invented around that era which helped keep the meat cool.  Oh yeah, don’t let me forget when we went snorkelling.  We saw all sort of fish like the nudibrand, sea horse, grey mallet and sea anemone. The most dangerous fish or shell there today were oysters, eagle rays and last of all jellyfish.  We learnt a lot about marine life and ways we can look after them in their environment.  What an amazing day! Thanks Samara and Eden from Experiencing Marine Reserves.   By James

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

New Zealand is surrounded by ocean - our oceans are a national treasure for many reasons, but we have begun to see a national decline in many of our fish species. It is only recently that we have begun to understand the impacts this has on the rest of our marine environment. Only by working together as a nation towards understanding more about our marine environment can we minimise our impacts upon it and conserve what we have for future generations.  Experiencing Marine Reserves (EMR) is about providing schools and their communities with the expertise and knowledge to experience their local marine environment first-hand, leading to local communities understanding marine conservation issues in their local area and fostering kaitiakitanga.