The 2016 Kaikōura earthquake resulted in changes to the physical structure of the northeastern coast of the South Island. In many places, reefs were uplifted and raised several metres above historical high tide marks across 130 km of coast. Though quantifying the change is difficult, uplift has impacted the coastal environment in multiple ways by altering physical topography and biological communities. The Reef Ecology & Coastal Values Earthquake Recovery (RECOVER) project has been developed to research these changes. The project unites scientists across disciplines to research and understand the impacts of the 2016 earthquake and opportunities to assist recovery.

About the project

The RECOVER project has been funded by MBIE to collect data on recovery of the natural environment with a focus on the short to mid-term prospects for key species and habitats along the coast. We are particularly interested in understanding the nature of earthquake impacts, detecting barriers to a full recovery, and investigating how long it might take.

RECOVER is aimed at helping the coastal environment return to a ‘new-normal’ following the earthquakes. As we already know the earthquakes have caused massive changes, RECOVER focuses more on what happens next. Some main themes of the project include predicting the recovery trajectory of taonga species and natural resources along the coast, and working out how we can help them fully recover. We hope that the research will be particularly useful to local government, iwi and rūnanga, local industry and the wider community.

Look out for opportunities to get involved through public talks and other community events. If you’d like to find out more please contact us anytime.

Recover newsletter

Short updates on our Kaikōura earthquake research are available in the Recover newsletter.
Access all issues on the permalink here! https://bit.ly/Recover-newsletter

Issue 1 (Jun 2018) provides a summary of some of the big changes we’ve seen as well as ways you can get involved!

Issue 2 (Dec 2018) profiles paua research, banded dotterel hotspots and seaweed recovery experiments.

Issue 3 (Jun 2019) profiles paua, whitebat and seaweed recovery surveys.

Issue 4 (Dec 2019) profiles sub-tidal surveys, ecological engineering in Waikoau / Lyell Creek, and remote sensing using drones.

Issue 5 (Jun 2020) profiles degrees of uplifted assessments, lab work on seaweed responses, and results from drone surveys.

Read more about our work!