River Lake is undertaking monitoring of Maketū Estuary on behalf of Bay of Plenty Regional Council. We have been sampling water quality, microbial water quality of shellfish flesh, installing loggers, algal cover, sediment accumulation, sediment quality, benthic macrofauna and pipi surveys.

The monitoring protocol for macrofauna requires collecting 10 sediment cores per site so it doesn’t take long before we a carrying a heavy pack. We were lucky to have Tom in the field with his efficent sampling technique and strong shoulders.