Prime Minister launches campaign for $14m marine science centre

A national and international campaign to raise funds to develop a South Pacific Centre for Marine Science (SPCMS) was launched today by Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Helen Clark.

The University of Auckland Centre at Leigh, north of Auckland recognises the importance of New Zealand’s marine estate and the need for ongoing, high quality research.

The $14 million centre will lead this research and train marine science graduate students across disciplines such as biology, oceanography, marine geosciences, geography and physics. This will upgrade existing facilities at the current centre.

It will also work with local communities, form business partnerships and provide a dynamic educational facility for children and the public.

More than half the $14 million required for capital works, including the proposed interpretive centre, and for an endowment fund to support teaching, research and education has been raised. The Edith Winstone Blackwell Trust has gifted $4.5 million for the interpretive centre and the University has budgeted $3 million under its funding programme.

“If solutions are to be found to the pressing problems of sustainability, energy production and food supply, New Zealand needs the underpinning science and trained students with the right skills. The University of Auckland is proud to take up the challenge and provide the outstanding graduates this task will require,” says Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon.

“In doing so, the University commits to working co-operatively with international agencies, foundations, trusts, other science agencies, Mori and the community, to provide the best possible education for our young people.”

“Given our location in the South Pacific, New Zealand and The University of Auckland have a leadership role to play in marine research and education, and tackling issues such as sustainability, energy production and food supply.”

“The SPCMS will enable world-class scholars to study the marine environment, develop the underlying scientific knowledge required for the management of our marine environment into the future, and educate our future leaders,” says Professor John Montgomery, Director of the Leigh Marine Laboratory.

“The University is keen to partner with other universities to develop a national strategy for tertiary sector marine science. The inclusion of South Pacific in the name recognises the importance of marine issues in the wider Oceania area, and Auckland’s unique position in the South West Pacific,” says Chris Mace, Chair of the SPCMS Strategy Group.

Approximately 350,000 people visit the marine reserve each year. The planned Edith Winstone Blackwell Interpretive Centre will provide a facility for these visitors and also outreach programmes for primary and secondary school students, including local and Mori educational programmes.

The Interpretive Centre will be part of a broad upgrade of the marine science complex at the Leigh Marine Laboratory, the plans for which are currently going through a resource consent process.

Note for editors:

The SPCMS Strategy Group is chaired by Chris Mace CNZM, part owner of Oceania and Eastern Securities, and Trustee of the Sir Peter Blake Trust and the Auckland Grammar School Foundation. Other Group members include Richard Didsbury of Kiwi Income Properties; Peter Maire, founder of Navman; and Phil Winstone, Director of Sherwin Investments and a representative of the Edith Winstone Blackwell Trust.

Photo

Marine scientists Dr Craig Radford and Dr Andrew Jeffs, and children from the Leigh primary school, with live crayfish. The theme is: “How do baby rock lobsters find the reef?”. (The answer is that reefs are noisy places, just like forests, there are dawn and dusk choruses, and the larval lobsters most likely find their way to the reef by orientation to the reef sound.)

Guests attending the event

Guests included representatives from the Department of Conservation, Rodney District Council and the Auckland Regional Council, including the Mayor of Rodney, as well as potential donors and other interested parties from the business world. Representatives of The University of Auckland, the South Pacific Centre for Marine Science Strategy Group, and Leigh Marine Laboratory research students and staff also attended. Approximately 100 people attended.