Skip to content

    • Mountains to Sea: Te Tauihu

    Restoring aquatic ecosystems

    Te Tauihu restored.
    A global blueprint built.

    Te Tauihu is home to a remarkable sequence of connected aquatic environments: alpine lakes and rivers, lowland streams, wetlands, estuaries, harbours, rocky reefs and coastal seas.

    Our vision is to support the recovery of these ecosystems as one connected system, from the mountains to the sea.

    Healthy freshwater ecosystems influence the health of estuaries and coastal waters. Coastal habitats support biodiversity, fisheries, climate resilience and community wellbeing. These systems are connected by water, species, sediment, nutrients, people and place. They need to be understood and restored in ways that recognise those connections.

    Cawthron’s Mountains to Sea initiative is our approach to integrated aquatic ecosystem restoration in Te Tauihu. It brings together science, mātauranga Māori, monitoring, restoration practice and community knowledge to better understand what recovery can look like across a whole region.

    Our vision

    A catalytic investment in aquatic ecosystem recovery

    Our long-term vision is for the aquatic ecosystems of Te Tauihu to be healthier, more resilient and more abundant, supporting the people, species and communities that depend on them.

    We want to help build a regional model for restoration that starts with place. That means working with iwi, communities, councils, agencies, industry and restoration groups to understand local priorities, strengthen existing efforts and identify where science can help.

    This approach recognises the interconnectedness of rivers, estuaries, wetlands and coastal habitats. It aims to enhance our understanding about how they affect one another, and how restoration in one part of the system can support recovery elsewhere.

    What we learn in Te Tauihu may also be useful for other regions facing similar pressures across freshwater and marine environments.

    Cawthron Institute is currently seeking partners and funders who share this vision to help design and scope this initiative. The goal is to connect a constellation of existing projects under a single overarching platform, filling the gaps that conventional science funding cannot reach, and accelerating impact in ways no single agency can achieve alone.

    “Our vision is for abundance - the ecological productivity of Te Tauihu can be restored to provide for our community values, now and for generations to come.”
    Roger Young, Manager Freshwater, Cawthron Institute

    Why Te Tauihu | Why Now

    Aquatic ecosystems under pressure. A window to act.

    Sedimentation is smothering river beds and coastal habitats. Shellfish beds are declining. Seagrass meadows are disappearing from Tasman Bay and Golden Bay. Wetlands and riparian habitat have been lost across lowland catchments. Rocky reefs are barren. We have fewer runs of diadromous fish moving between freshwater and sea. Water quality is under pressure across rivers, lakes, harbours, and estuaries throughout the region. These are not isolated problems - they are the cumulative signature of aquatic ecosystems under stress along their full length, from mountain to sea. 

    Te Tauihu is not unique in facing these pressures, but it is uniquely positioned to address them. The region's iwi, communities, councils, the Department of Conservation, and industry are ready to act. What has been missing is an integrated Platform that can address freshwater and coastal aquatic ecosystems together and the sustained investment to see it through.

    Summary of Platform workstreams

    Mountains to Sea: Te Tauihu

    Waituna Creek, Southland, during environmental assessment fieldwork, March 2019.

    Catchment restoration and sediment mitigation

    Nature-based solutions, including wetlands, riparian planting, and erosion control, to halt the flow of sediment that smothers coastal habitats. A prerequisite for everything downstream.

    Freshwater coastal connections

    Demonstrating the vital role of rivers and streams in supporting diadromous species and organic matter flows - using cutting-edge seed-based restoration and monitoring technologies.

    Cawthron Marine Ecologist Dr Dan Crossett picking seagrass flowers.

    Seagrass restoration

    Scaling current trials being deliver via the Cawthron-led ‘Restore the Meadows’ research programme to rebuild seagrass beds by restoring nursery habitat, stabilising sediment, and strengthening the ecological foundations that underpin biodiversity and fisheries.

    Blue carbon and coastal resilience

    Restoring saltmarsh, kelp, and coastal vegetation systems that sequester carbon, buffer communities from climate impacts, and open new pathways for blue-economy investment.

    Shellfish restoration

    Supporting the recovery of scallops, mussels, and oysters - species of deep cultural significance to tangata whenua - through habitat enhancement, reseeding, and natural filtration systems.

    Rocky reef restoration

    Rebuilding degraded rocky reef ecosystems to increase habitat complexity and marine biodiversity, supporting coastal productivity and stabilising food webs from the bottom up.

    “This is not a single project. It is a coordinated ecosystem recovery programme - built to scale, designed for the long term, and capable of becoming a global reference for what is possible when science, mātauranga Māori, and community come together.”
    Robin Holmes, Freshwater Ecologist, Cawthron Institute

    Donate to a project

    Support our science

    1

    Restore the Meadows

    By sponsoring Restore the Meadows, you can help bring back the seagrass habitats that sustain coastal biodiversity, improve water quality and strengthen the resilience of marine ecosystems in Te Tauihu for generations to come.

    Download

    Support our science

    Cawthron is currently seeking partners and funders who share our vision for the restoration of aquatic ecosystems in Te Tauihu. We would love to hear from you.

    Get in touch