Wellington East Girls College are continuing their project to establish a Pāua hathcery around the rocks off Worser Bay Boating Club. In previous years senior outdoor education students from the college have explored the difference between Pāua living in the marine reserves off Wellington's South Coast and Kapiti island with those living on the rocks in Worser Bay. They found that the difference in size and abundance was quite marked, with those in the harbour significantly smaller and less abundant than in the marine reserves.
Students have been researching the systems used by NIWA scientists to restore the Pāua stocks along the East Coast of the South Island after the Kaikoura earthquake decimated their numbers. They have created three 'Pāua Pods', a hollow metre squared concrete slab with small entrances through which Pāua can escape the interest of one of their predators, starfish. They have installed the Pāua Pods amongst the rocks off the club and are monitoring their effectiveness.
On a recent monitoring trip the students checked the Pāua Pods and were inpressed by the the large number of juvenile Pāua that had taken up residence in the pods. They also commented on the abundance of starfish across the sea bed at Worser Bay and were also suprised to find one starfish that had made its way into one of the pods!
One of the next steps for the students includes working with the Greatrer Wellington Regional Council to establish a community initiated marine protection area in the bay to enable the Pāua Pods to potentially become a permanent fixture in the bay.
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