Coastal Conservation Association (CCA Texas)

So we do conservation related fundraising.

We work closely with the Department of Conservation.

I'll probably stay on in that role and hopefully pick up a few more hours.

But I'm really committed to working as hard as we can to win the seat.

the Game Animal Council Act 2013.

So we thought, well, why not work with the Department of Conservation, create this, um, goat hunting competition? Now, when you get a mob of goats at, like, 30 goats, and you've got a s- a five-shot rifle with a bolt that you've got to load-

Yeah [laughs]

... one by one, and they're all running across the hill-

When I was doing my Archie's frogs research, I was looking at the identification methods for the Archie's frogs.

And what I found so special about that coming from a background of like technically I'm trained as an ecologist I've never worked as an ecologist but I've been able to get field experience through working with Department of Conservation in multiple areas and I'm super lucky with that work it was amazing but what I quickly realized is that there are so many different species and so many different ways of monitoring that over time and obviously the main thing for science and being able to like redo that monitoring is that it's clear enough that someone could pick up that way of monitoring and then do it again and with these arches frogs they use the patterns on their faces and on their backs to identify individuals and so we give them a four digit code of zeros and ones whether the black on their under eye and their like jaw area mouth area connects that's a one if it doesn't connect it's a zero so we look at both sides of the face and both sides on the back and they end up with this code and doc is currently manually identifying them and going through like thousands of photos in these folders of codes and we didn't have much information around like the long-term sustainability of that manual identification and it takes so long And so with those processes behind the scenes, you know, you have the amazing field work that I'm so glad that you got to take part in too.

But it is such a small amount of that work.

And a lot of that is the behind the scenes, you know, the looking at the photos, the looking at the data and making conclusions from that.

It's got an important role, which it's hitherto sort of ignored, and that is its responsibility to help the forestry companies in terms of the ETS, particularly if there's not going to be harvestable replanting in certain areas.

So there's the Crown's responsibility through the Department of Conservation to help with pest management.

So there's a lot of stuff that the Crown really does need to get on with.

Yeah.

And I'll really highlight, like, there are good people at the department and they are very much aware of this issue.

But in terms of the Department of Conservation, they really lack resourcing for this targeted control work.

And what was introduced a few years ago was the International Visitor Levy.

Now, Labour looked at bringing that in in 2017 and it was widely criticised.

Just to do something for another species just makes you feel really good.

Zach Penman is the lead of the Department of Conservation's South Island Large Whale Disentanglement Team.

He was coordinator and boat driver that day that they freed the southern right whale from crepe hotlines near Rakiura.

But that's just one of the hats that Zach wears in dock.

Zach, with the help of community ranger Briar Edward, back the trailer up and launch the dock boat with a practised ease from the South Bay ramp.

And I clamber on board.

Welcome aboard TT, Department of Conservation's premier research and compliance vessel here in Kaikōda.

Compliance is a big part of Zach's job.

attack by pests.

So the Department of Conservation has got a role to play as well.

So looking at the Crown as a whole, several of its departments have important responsibilities ahead of them if this huge transitional exercise is going to work.

In terms of the Crown involvement, there is a forestry facilitator appointed by the government, Doug Leader.