17th May to 17th May, 12:30pm-3:30pm
Step into the world of marine biodiversity and explore New Zealand's unique and fascinating ocean life and ecosystems!
Begin with investigating the rocky shore of the Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve
- View a healthy, protected intertidal rocky reef ecosystem
- Become a marine citizen scientist for the day and contribute to our seasonal biodiversity dataset using iNaturalist
- See how many different types of algae and animals you can find and identify!
Return to Sir Peter Blake MERC for a shared afternoon tea provided by Seaweek and the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO
Learn about local marine life with experts
- Hands-on displays and activities
- Explore results from our seasonal surveys
- Meet UNESCO Youth Leaders and explore all 7 Ocean Literacy Principles
- Hear from scientists about the diversity of Aotearoa's incredible marine life!
We are excited to have Dr Paul Caiger, author of Fishes of Aotearoa, to share stories of the incredible diversity of fishes around our coasts and here in the Hauraki Gulf!
Register here today to join us! This free event is whanau friendly!
What to bring
- Sturdy shoes for walking on wet rocks
- Hat, sunscreen, layers for weather
- Phone with iNaturalist app downloaded, or camera: Join the iNaturalist MERC Database
- Endless curiosity!
More about Dr. Paul Caiger
More about the event series
This is the final event of our Ngā Kōrero III Series supported by the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO. The series of live and online events began in June of 2025 exploring all 7 Ocean Literacy Principles. This event is focused on Ocean Literacy Principle #5: The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems. We have chosen this date to align with the International Day for Biological Diversity on the 22nd of May. It also coincides with our seasonal bioblitz events for Autumn 2026. For more on Ocean Literacy, check out our Educator Hub!
