Youth Sailors - Reporting in on Moanamana

Annabel Grindell - Moanamana Wānanga

Building up to the Moanamana Wānanga in Auckland I was very excited, and the whole thing was better than I imagined. We spent our four days doing many exciting things such as sailing on the Steinlarger 2, looking at abiotic and biotic factors in the ecosystem of a stream, doing surveys of meter squares of rock pools and snorkelling at the Goat Island marine reserve which was definitely my favourite thing we did. What I really loved about the trip was how we were doing all of these fun and amazing things, but also learning so much about our marine environment at the same time.

Looking at the abiotic and biotic factors in the stream and how they can effect the sea at Centennial Park was especially interesting and fun whilst also being extremely educational. Being able to see the incredible animals (biotic factor) you can find in a stream and also being able to map out whether the stream is healthy or not from these animals really gripped everyone's attention. Snorkelling at Goat Island was also so incredible as it is the very first marine reserve in New Zealand, and the wildlife is breath taking because the fish had been there for so long unharmed

Being a part of this Moanamana trip in Auckland built up even more passion for the environment among us as we got to see first hand what is effecting our marine environment e.g. through looking at the Ph level of the stream that runs to the ocean and how unsafe products can unbalance that. But paired with that we also got to experience how amazing New Zealand's marine life really is e.g. through spotting different creatures like nudibranchs (rock pools) and giant snapper (goat island.) This has made us all more motivated to protect the special marine life we have.

This trip to Auckland for Moanamana has truly inspired me to be more passionate about our oceans and helping build New Zealand's blue belt, and I'm sure everyone else was inspired too. At the end of our four days away we presented our action plans in our school/yacht club groups that we had been planning the whole time we were away, and hearing everyone else's plans on how they were going to help our marine environment was the most inspiring part.