Wilderlab helps monitor the health of Te Awakairangi Hutt River
In the first of a series on the Wellington region’s waterways, Kate Green reported on the health of Hutt River on stuff.co.nz and in The Dominion Post this week.
Wilderlab’s founder Dr Shaun Wilkinson and our company’s involvement in the assessment of the river’s health and it’s wildlife, was featured in the article.
Shaun and Kate sampled the river at two locations; Hikoikoi Reserve near the rivermouth, where it flowed into Wellington Harbour, and Railway Ave Bridge, in the heart of Lower Hutt city.
The eDNA analysis picked up over 200 species of fish, insects, plants, fungi, protists and microbes. Included in the fish catch were longfin and shortfin eels (tuna), pātiki mohoao black flounder, inanga, smelt, bluegill and common bullies, brown trout, kahawai, mullet, triplefins and wrasses.
Another interesting catch was the peach blossom freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbii), an introduced species plaguing rivers and lakes around New Zealand.
Read the full article at https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/300283917/taniwha-in-the-valley-hutt-river-is-both-threatened-and-threatening--but-is-it-just-misunderstood