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Kaiwhakatere |
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artificial reef at Long
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An artificial reef is being built, using 'reef balls', at the Long Bay Marine Reserve by staff and students from the Earth and Oceanic Sciences Centre (EOS) at AUT. Professor John Buckeridge, the Director of EOS, says the University has been given resource consent by the Auckland Regional Council to build the reef. The reef will become an education resource for schools, a recreation site for snorkellers and divers, and a home for many species of marine life. The team will create an artificial reef by using reef balls - a concept developed by an American diver and since used in over a thousand projects worldwide. The balls are used to create habitats for fish and other marine species. The project leader is Jonathan Jaffrey, a physics and science teacher at Long Bay College, who is the Royal Society Teaching Fellow at EOS for 2001. "This is an example of affirmative action for the marine environment. What we are hoping to do is enhance the biodiversity in the bay and counteract some of the damage that has been done in the area. "This is the first time reef balls have been used to create an artificial reef in New Zealand, but if we are successful it hopefully won't be the last," Mr Jaffrey says.
The reef balls are made of concrete and are designed to mimic natural reef systems. A fibreglass mould is made of the balls and then concrete is pored into the mould. They are designed with holes in them so that the energy from waves does not cause them to be damaged or moved. Once made and aged the balls are floated, with internal bladders, to the reef site and then lowered to the sea floor by deflating the bladders. The balls are then guided into place and the bladders removed. The balls are currently constructed using a special type of concrete. The team, however, want to research the possibility of using ordinary waste concrete. "It is my dream that waste concrete from around the country can be used for a good purpose like this. If our research shows we can use ordinary or waste concrete without harming the environment then reef balls would become a feasible option offshore," Mr Jaffrey says. AUT students Trent Taylor and Claire Barnaby along with two students who are studying at AUT on exchange from Germany - Marco Peter and Sebastian Otto - will be assisting Mr Jaffrey on the project. The team has already begun testing and building the reef balls. About 25 balls will be used in the Long Bay Marine Reserve.
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New right propaganda about the economy post-Muldoon was sold to New Zealanders through a media industry which was undergoing its own crisis, claims an AUT researcher in his new book.
Senior lecturer and researcher in Communication Studies in the Faculty of Arts, Dr Wayne Hope, is writing a book, Selling the Market Economy: The History of the New Right and the news media in New Zealand. The book focuses on a time of dramatic political change in New Zealand from the late 1970s until the early 1990's. Dr Hope explains that in the early 1980s, the three major players in the newspaper industry in New Zealand became two. In the early 1990's, 100 percent foreign ownership of the media was allowed - which meant tighter budgets and less room for local news stories across all media. "The news media itself was being transformed by concentrations of ownership and deregulation and at the same time the Government was making major policy changes. Apart from the odd exception, journalists weren't reporting on these changes, other than to reproduce - rather than critique - economic information from treasury, the reserve bank and corporate leaders," Dr Hope says. Deregulation and concentrations of press ownership saw many journalists laid off, with others preferring to leave to join public relations. "There were fewer journalists to do a critical job. Many who left became involved in promoting the new right policy agenda, rather than critiquing it," he says. Successive governments from 1984 became involved in major 'information' campaigns about everything from GST to the so-called health 'reforms'. Dr Hope says these campaigns sold the idea that everything in the economic past hadn't worked and these changes were therefore good by definition (because they were new) and there was no alternative. "These public
relations campaigns swamped the media and it meant there was little news
space for journalists to critique what was going on. An important factor
in all this was to rubbish Muldoon and blame him for everything. It became
very fashionable to do this and was used as an excuse to make changes.
Muldoon did make mistakes but it didn't mean that the New right
alternative was necessarily good," he says. |
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Te Ara Poutama, the Faculty of Maori Development, is planning to offer a Diploma in South Pacific Art and Design beginning next year. Programme lecturer Noelle Jakeman says there are many career opportunities for people who decide to pursue this opportunity. "Because of the growing interest in Maori and Pacific Island art and design nationally and internationally, there are various art-related careers and design industries that need employees who are specialised in this area. "This is also important in ensuring that these designs and images are not used inappropriately," says Ms Jakeman. The two-year diploma will incorporate the faculty's current Certificate Te Ara Ta Whao (Maori and Art and Design) in its first year, which is currently taught by Haupuru Harwood. The certificate is currently being reviewed in order to meet the growing number of Pasifika students taking the course. Therefore, the first year of study will incorporate the different design principles which make up Maori and Pacific artistic expression, while the second year will focus on the creation of artwork and professional practice. While there are a number of similar programmes throughout the country, Ms Jakeman believes there is a demand for such a course in Auckland. An artist in her own right, Ms Jakeman has a strong background in Maori art and design. Her appointment to AUT to lead the programme has seen her come full circle. She was a 1993 graduate from the Te Ara Ta Whao programme, before training at Northland Polytechnic from 1995-1997. She is also a graduate of the renowned Toihoukura (Maori Visual Arts) programme at Tairawhiri Polytechnic in Gisborne and was its artist in residence for two years. Ms Jakeman is actively involved in Maori art groups and is currently studying towards her Master degree at AUT, majoring in sculpture. |
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