New Zealand is home to some of the world's rarest marine mammals, yet there are concerns about the level of funding for research to help protect them. Rebecca Fox talks to scientists and the Department of Conservation about the fine balance between protecting species and funding.
Discovering no New Zealand sea lion pups were born on one of only five breeding colonies in the Auckland Islands is a concern despite an overall increase in pups on the islands, University of Otago zoologist Dr Bruce Robertson says.
A Department of Conservation plan allocating commercial fishing funding for marine research has fallen short of the expectations of both scientists and fishing interests.
A record-breaking run of warm July weather has Otago's birds chirping and plants bursting into flower.
The best way to ensure security of water supply for landowners and provide habitat for endangered fish is to manage the Benger Burn and Ettrick aquifer together, the Otago Regional Council says.
Some major Otago waterways are didymo-free so it is important river and lake users keep up the ''check, clean and dry'' practice, Otago Regional Council director Jeff Donaldson says.
Otago's endangered wildlife and habitats are ''on their own'' because the Government's cuts and policies are undermining the processes set up to protect them, former Otago Conservation Board chairwoman Associate Prof Abby Smith says.
Well-known Rattray St food bar and restaurant, the Tai Ping, has been extensively damaged by fire.
Snow is falling in Southland and parts of Otago as officials make final preparations for the polar blast that could cause chaos for many regions.
The Otago Regional Council's relationship with Tarras Water had got to the point there was no way it could become a dry shareholder, council chairman Stephen Woodhead said.
The University of Otago will contribute an estimated $204,000 to beautify the banks of the Water of Leith as part of flood protection work.
If the Otago Regional Council's new water quality rules are applied to the Waianakarua catchment it could fail the test, monitoring has found.
A search for diversity around its board table has led the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust to co-opt younger members.
Plans are already being made to ensure the flood protection works in front of the University of Otago's registry building do not go over deadline, Otago Regional Council director Gavin Palmer says.
A lack of economic analysis featuring in the thinking of Otago Regional Council staff is being questioned by its new chief executive.
The Otago Regional Council has doubled its insurance to cover against the possibility of one of its employees defrauding the local body.
The battle to keep Fiordland didymo-free has been lost.
The stretch of the Water of Leith in front of the University of Otago's registry building looks set to get a multimillion-dollar makeover this summer.
Just how useful pre-election reports by councils will be at ''stimulating debate'' before October's local body elections is questionable, Andy Asquith of Massey University, says.
For the past five years, Prof Colin Campbell-Hunt has been sharing the life of his late wife through the words of her unfinished PhD research.
