Project Baseline Wellington is a citizen science initiative of the Wellington Underwater Club, documenting our local marine environment.
The Wellington Harbour and rugged South Coast are iconic Wellington landmarks. Divers have a privileged view of the marine environment and can bring back photos and videos of an otherwise invisible world.A systematic collection of data allows us to build up a snapshot or baseline of what is hidden under the waves. Over time, observations provide a powerful tool to showcase even small and slow changes in the marine environment that would otherwise go unnoticed - a phenomenon often referred to as 'shifting baseline'.
Project Baseline Wellington is set up to provide a platform for engaged divers and those interested in our local environment to contribute their underwater observations, build a long-term record and engage the public in marine conservation. Bringing the global Project Baseline initiative to New Zealand our local divers can actively contribute to document the health and vitality of the world's underwater environments, increase public awareness of the health and threat to the world's underwater environments and facilitate political action that improves and protects the health of the world's underwater environments.
The Kelp Survey
Our founding project is the documentation of distribution and extent of an important habitat and environmental indicator, giant kelp. We are also interested in the distribution and role of other seaweed species in the Wellington area.
download the reports here:
for current activities have a look at the facebook page: Project-Baseline-Wellington