Combining education and science outcomes : the marine studies programme and Tūhua marine reserve monitoring

Tūhua (Mayor Island) lies 35 kilometres off shore in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. It has a long history of Māori occupation and is of high cultural significance to these traditional owners. Tūhua was once world-renowned for big game fishing, but after incremental declines in local fish populations, in 1993 a no-take marine reserve was gazetted and has been the subject of annual marine monitoring surveys since that time. Continued monitoring has only been possible because of the creation of an innovative science/education partnership between the Tūhua Trust Board, representing the indigenous Māori owners of the island, the Department of Conservation (DOC), responsible for managing the reserve, and the Marine Studies Department of Bay of Plenty Polytechnic (BOPP). The Polytechnic\u27s Marine Studies course is a successful undergraduate diploma/degree education programme, combining strong practical elements with academic rigour. Second year Marine Studies students and staff members undertake the marine monitoring surveys at Tūhua on an annual extended field trip. Managers expected the marine reserve would demonstrate growth in fish numbers in comparison to the adjacent less protected areas. However little change in key indicator species was apparent after ten years of protection and this precipitated a review of the methodology and marine management policies. Twenty years after protection, there are now clear differences. Interwoven with this hard science discourse are the perceptions of the students involved in the annual monitoring programme. On the extended monitoring field trip, the students and staff members live on the island for ten days in basic conditions and are immersed in a natural learning environment. Results of a series of questionnaires suggest that the students involved increase not only their skill sets but also have increased self-confidence, motivation and conservation awareness. Science and education outcomes have been successfully combined into a readily transferable model over twenty years at this ecologically and culturally significant island location.Keith E. Gregor: Marine Studies Department, Bay of Plenty PolytechnicKim D. Youg: Conservation Ecology Research Unit, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of PretoriaDaniel C. Rapson: Tauranga Management Area, Department of ConservationJacob McC. Overton: Landcare Researc

Evaluating Banking Websites Privacy Statements – A New Zealand Perspective on Ensuring Business Confidence

Because banks deal with highly personal detailed and sensitive information, they need to establish and maintain the confidence of their customers more assiduously than most other businesses. The rise of internet banking and the advantages to be gained from the garnering of personal data from websites places banks in a position to exploit customer data in a way that might infringe ethical considerations. This investigation analyses the website privacy statements of New Zealand banks in terms of the provisions of the New Zealand Privacy Act. The intention was to find an objective basis for the assessment of business integrity, to explore how confidence in electronic commerce can be assured. The investigation finds that the use of privacy legislation principles as a means of evaluating website privacy statements is revealing and convincing. It is considered that customer confidence will increasingly impact on Internet businesses, and business integrity as demonstrated by comprehensive and relevant privacy statements will go a long way to provide those assurances