Spatial Environmental Data for the Hauraki Gulf - Sea Change

Seachange is a partnership between Auckland Council, Waikato Regional Council, territorial authorities, the Department of Conservation, Ministry for Primary Industries and the Hauraki Gulf Forum. The aim is to produce a marine spatial plan for the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. This plan informs how the Hauraki Gulf is shared, used and stewarded for future generations. The available information on physical and biological habitats, matauranga Maori knowledge and existing management constraints are stored and displayed using SeaSketch, an online spatial planning tool. The online tool will helped to engage and support people to contribute to a desired vision for the gulf, one that considers things like: •which activities might take place and where •what areas and values are important and how to safeguard them •options and possible compromises to meet future needs. This data was collected to inform the development of a marine spatial plan for the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park area. The data was gathered by the project partners and collated into an online tool, which is publicly available.

Data layers include: Area based fishing restrictions (MPI) Council management areas (outstanding natural character and landscape, marine management areas) Marine Protected areas (DoC and MPI) - cables, pipelines and marine reserves Public Conservation areas Ramsar sites Biodiversity - demersal fishes, reef fish species richness, mammal sightings (Brydes whales, whales, dolphins) Marine habitats - MPA policy habitat classification Physical properties - bathymetric contours, bottom type (substrate, rocky reef), tidal current, wave height. Aquaculture - approved farms and applications. Fishing - snapper catch intensity, average annual intensity of set line fishing, average annual intensity of trawl fishing, recreational fishing effort (2004-2005), recreational fishing effort (2011-2012) Heritage - archaeological sites, historic sites Recreation and tourism - boat ramps, surf breaks, recreational boating (cruise routes, yacht race courses) Shipping and navigation - shipping traffic (density, vessel tracks by speed, passenger vessel tracks, tracks by vessel type), no anchoring areas (dedicated shipping zones, underwater cable areas, underwater cables), navigation safety bylaws. Catchment boundaries Land use classification Rivers

Hauraki Gulf Marine Park (eastern and western shore of Coromandel Peninsula, Firth of Thames and Hauraki Gulf.

Varied - one off review of available data.

Limitations vary depending on data source. Data quality varied

Data is presented in an online mapping tool - Sea Sketch. See link below.

The data was gathered for the purposes of the Hauraki Gulf marine spatial plan project.

Data publicly available.