Shaun Lee - Auckland's Hauraki Gulf

Shaun Lee is an Auckland-based designer, illustrator and photographer. Shaun started his career as a web designer and then co-founded Auckland’s foremost business-to-business design studio. Shaun now only works on environmental initiatives and has dedicated his life to improving the state of the planet. A true eco-warrior in every sense.

His environmental advocacy work is extensive and varied, including serving as Co-Founder and Trustee of Revive Our Gulf, New Zealand’s only large-scale, active marine restoration initiative. In this conversation, Shaun shines a light on the damage done to the Hauraki Gulf, and the causes, and also discusses the ambitious plans of Revive our Gulf for large-scale restoration of the area.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Shaun’s background and passion for saving the planet!
• Shaun’s creative advocacy work including MOST New Zealand and NZ Tracker
• The importance of visual mediums in communicating climate concerns
• The water quality degradation and ecosystem decline of the Hauraki Gulf
  • The current state of the water quality
  • What’s contributing to the Gulf’s decline
  • Green-lipped mussels fishery collapse
  • Impacts of trawling and dredging on marine life
  • Bottom trawling and sediment plumes
  • The potential for dead zones within the Gulf
  • Scientific trawling conducted by fisheries in New Zealand
• Revive our Gulf – restoring the mussel reefs that once dominated the Hauraki Gulf
• The benefits and logistics of ‘re-musseling’
• How listeners can get involved in active restoration

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast, leave us a review and share this episode with your friends and family.

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