What’s in that lake?

What’s in that Lake? Dr Todd Kincaid’s visit to New Zealand

 

I’m awestruck by the power of ideas, how something said can blossom into actions that literally change the world. In 2019, I was honored to see how the idea of Project Baseline Aotearoa lakes is making exactly this kind of change in Auckland, New Zealand.  

I had traveled to Sydney Australia for the OzTek diving show where my friend Mel Jeavons suggested that, since I had already come so far, I jump over to New Zealand and talk to people in Auckland as well. The Project Baseline/Aotearoa Lakes team rolled out the red carpet and set up an opportunity for Ebi and I to talk to a packed house about what’s needed to restore and preserve the underwater world. Our talks went really well and we positively engaged with lots of people. More inspiring for me though was what I saw when I spent the next day diving with Ebi and the team at Lake Pupuke.

Generally speaking, lakes aren’t my favorite places to dive. They’re usually not very clear, have silty or muddy bottoms, and not a lot to look at. What was different and inspiring at Lake Pupuke was the number of enthusiastic people who came out, and come out regularly, to support efforts to understand why the lake’s health is declining and what can be done to stop it.

On that day in April, there were five divers helping a team of scientists document changing conditions in the lake. The dive team set out to collect sediment samples using 30cm long open tubes that we capped on both ends after pushing them as far into the muddy floor as possible. If the viz started out poor, say 2-3 meters, it ended up being near zero because the best trim in the world doesn’t help when you’re pulling up mud and silt from the bottom of the lake. We collected more than 40 samples from depths ranging from 30m to the surface. It’s certainly not what I’d call fun diving, but given solid skills, great teamwork, and even greater attitudes, we all had a good time and came away proud to deliver our samples to the science team waiting overhead. Later that afternoon, we also toured a series of transect lines in shallow water recording visibility and plant life along the way.

Ebi explained that the sampling we did was part of a multiyear effort to document how and why eutrophication is increasing in the lake as well as, how this effects the distribution of aquatic plants. Ebi and his team conduct sampling like the effort I participated as often as once a week, which requires a lot of committed volunteer divers. He uses the shallow transect dives to not only collect useful data, but also to inspire and train volunteers to be able to safely and efficiently conduct the sampling in deeper, darker, and colder water.

In Auckland, Ebi and the team are fully executing the Project Baseline vision: documenting their backyard underwater world, sharing what they see, using their skills and access to help others understand and protect that world, and leveraging their work to inspire the public to support actions that will make a difference. Plus, judging from my time with them, they’re having a good bit of fun along the way.

 

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