Hauraki Gulf-Biodiversity and Biosecurity.

I have just returned from an all day excellent work shop organised by the Centre for Biodiversity and Biosecurity. It was held at the Tamaki campus at Auckland University. It was encouraging to see the level of interest and passion for all the good work that is going on around the Hauraki Gulf Islands.  Many restoration projects are  to restore these island to be able to act as a repository for native species, some of which just cannot survive on the mainland due to the range of predators.  The challenge for the future though is how to fund these projects as they develop and particularly in the present climate as the Department of Conservation's funds are being reduced. Although still controversial to some extent it was suggested that a greater emphasis should be made on a business model of Eco tourism and 'user pays' to visit these Islands..