Overview
People: Clive Roberts, Andrew Stewart & Carl Struthers, with various external collaborators
The main aim of this project is to carry out biosystematic investigations on New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone fishes in order to facilitate their accurate identification. The programme is being carried out by Te Papa's fish team and an international team of over 40 fish taxonomic specialists who are preparing collection-based species descriptions and family keys. A total of c.1300 fish descriptions will be made available through publications and other media. It is anticipated that the work will include the formal naming of many new species, as well as the description of rare and poorly known species. Work is based on the National Fish Collection held by Te Papa. This programme is currently funded by the NZ Ministry of Research and Innovation through Te Papa subcontract within NIWA’s Biodiversity and Biosecurity Science Programme.
The main outputs will include a comprehensive illustrated Guide Book to all EEZ fishes, research papers, popular articles, identification courses and workshops, and conference presentations. The knowledge generated from this programme is urgently required by scientists, conservation organisations, resource managers, government agencies, NGO's, private industry, education groups, and members of the public.
Here are a few examples of some recent findings: