Kelly Tarlton's Marine Wildlife Trust

01/09/2026

New Seahorse Survey Reel 🤿 🪸 🎥 🌊
Stay tuned for more Seahorse Survey content to come 👀…

26/08/2026

Since February, we have undertaken several seahorse surveys around the northern part of Tīkapa Moana Te Moananui ā Toi / The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.
These surveys repeat those carried out by Schannel van Dijken 25 years ago as part of his Master’s thesis. Our results will be compared to van Dijken’s to examine the population trend of big-bellied seahorses in this region.
On this occasion, team member Mitch joins our project coordinator, Dr Hayley Nessia, and the University of Auckland’s Dr Tim Haggit on a follow-up seahorse survey dive with the objective of...
▪️Counting how many Big-bellied Seahorses/manaia (Hippocampus abdominalis) and pipefishes (in the family Syngnathidae along with Seahorses and Sea dragons) there are along a 50-metre transect.
▪️Recording the s*x of each Seahorse located during the dive.
▪️Carefully measuring the length of the seahorse for the record.
After the pre-dive brief, all donned their scuba gear and (and quite literally) walked into the moana to begin the dive. On the way over to the first dive site for the day, a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) swam past the dive team. Once there, Hayley and Tim began to survey the site; other interesting marine species were located along the transect from juvenile Sweep/Hui (Scorpis lineolata)to Sand Flounder/Pātiki (Rhombosolea plebeia).

More importantly, on the return dive of the transect, Hayley pointed out to Mitch a seahorse hiding underneath a patch of Carpophyllum Seaweed/Rimurimu. Once that seahorse was documented, they moved on to the other side of the wharf.

Similar story at the second dive site: both Hayley and Mitch found a Seahorse to log as part of the overall survey. The day ended with the same pod of dolphins revisiting the same part of the dive site.
Official numbers and data on the seahorse survey will be published in due time, but this series of survey dives is part of a larger picture of the populations of manaia within Tīkapa Moana Te Moananui ā Toi.
Watch this space 🤿…..

28/07/2026

22/07/2026

21/07/2026

03/07/2026

First post in a while...
In recent months, there has been an array of innovations to take on Exotic Caulerpa. A threat to the hauora of the underwater taiao 🌿 🌊 🪸
Team members Mitch and Craig met with the field team from Waiheke Marine Project and the Ngāti Pāoa Dive Team. Also, there was Steve, the skipper of ‘Newport’.
The objective of the day’s dive was to conduct an observational dive in a UV-C treatment area of the Northern Coast of Waiheke Island.
This treatment site is part of a larger trial of managing the spread of Exotic Caulerpa using UV-C lights as the tool. This particular trial is led by Ngāti Pāoa Iwi Trust with the UV-C technology and expertise facilitated by Advanced Aquarium Technologies NZ. The treatments conducted there started in March of this year and went through to mid-May 2026.
During the dive, the team were encouraged to see that the UV-C treatment on this Reef site was working; therefore, the possibility of managing the spread of this invasive Seaweed may become a reality.
Stay tuned for more to come 👀

12/05/2026

A little snippet of the Seahorse Survey 🤿🤿🤿

05/05/2026

Since the beginning of late 2025, one of our project coordinators, Dr Hayley Nessia, has been working on a new Kelly Tarlton’s Marine Wildlife Trust-led scientific survey of the Big-bellied Seahorse / Hippocampus abdominalis within the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park – Tīkapa Moana Te Moananui-ā-Toi.
Here are some cool facts on this taonga species...
The Big-bellied Seahorse / Manaia is Aotearoa / New Zealand’s only native seahorse and the largest species globally. It inhabits sheltered coastal environments, including bays and estuaries, where it is typically associated with structured habitats such as macroalgal forests and artificial substrates.
In the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana, anecdotal evidence suggests localised declines and potential extirpations; however, there are currently no data on population trends, and the most recent IUCN assessment (2016) lists the species as ‘Least Concern’. Manaia are also a taonga species, holding cultural significance for tangata whenua.
This project aims to assess the current status of manaia populations by repeating baseline surveys conducted 25 years ago at Ti Point, Whangateau Harbour and Schoolhouse Bay, Kawau Island.
Given their close association with Carpophyllum forests, improving habitat availability for manaia may have broader benefits for coastal ecosystem health. Investigation into seahorse conservation is therefore vital to understanding population trends and informing effective management of coastal ecosystems.
Stay tuned for more Seahorse Survey updates as this mahi is underway🤿🤿🤿🤿

07/04/2026

update 🐢🐢🐢

Today, we released a new mini-documentary called Honu o Te Hiku o Te Ika – Turtles of the Far North.

This film was filmed throughout 2025, which followed four Green Sea Turtles as they were prepped with Satellite Tags for their release back in the Far North of Aotearoa. One of the Green Sea Turtles that were in our care was found stranded at Rangiputa Beach, one was found at East Beach, one at Taupō Bay and the other was found stranded on the West Coast.

The Satellite tagging program was commissioned by the Department of Conservation to study where and what Green Sea Turtles get up in the moana of New Zealand. A study that is ongoing to this day.

You can find the full film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0dcA5zW0Ng

Here's 20 seconds of the film, enjoy!