Interview: Lennon Kingston.
Interview and photos by Benthics.
Lennon snorkelling at the kelp restoration site.
Lennon Kingston decided to engage his passion for environmental volunteering over the summer, by helping Te Kohuroa Rewilding to harvest kina from the kelp restoration site.
Lennon is a Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award programme candidate and has lived near the sea his whole life. He has been taking part in conservation activities since he was young, enjoys snorkelling in the local marine reserves and has always been fascinated by the kelp forests that provide habitat for the fish and other sea life. When he heard about the challenges his local sea forests were facing, he decided to find a way to help. In this interview, Lennon talks about the future of our oceans and the action we can all take to ensure they are healthy.
Q: What motivated you to become a marine conservation volunteer?
A: Ever since I was a kid, I have been taught about our marine environment and the threats it faces. I wanted to combat these problems but couldn't find a way to contribute directly to the marine environment. When I heard about TKRI's marine rewilding program, I knew this was how I could play my part in protecting our ocean.
Q: Why did you choose the Duke of Edinburgh pathway?
A: The voluntary work I have been undertaking over the past six months has counted towards my Duke of Edinburgh Silver through the Community Service section. Marine conservation was a viable option for my community service and I thought it was great because I have always wanted to help protect our ocean. My hope is that, by helping to rejuvenate our oceans, the community around us will feel the positive effects of our work. This can include the local Iwi having a healing ecosystem for the place where they live and it will keep the waters healthier, allowing for clearer and safer swims, especially for little kids.
Te Kohuroa Matheson Bay, outer reef and restoration site.
The power of learning through volunteering
Q: What have you learned through your volunteering that you didn't know before?
A: Before volunteering with TKRI, I hadn't realized the extent of what overfishing - both commercial and recreational – can do to our ocean . After seeing the thousands of kina (sea urchins) removed from the bay, I understand how kina can become overpopulated and impact New Zealand's marine ecosystem. Now that I know this, it has motivated me to learn more about the issues we face from overfishing and the kina barrens found throughout New Zealand. I have enrolled in Environmental Science to study the effects of recreational and commercial overfishing and how it leads to kina destroying the habitat of fish and other marine species, with the hope of finding solutions to these problems.
Q: What activities or ideas would you like to see included in future work for the project, and how would you like to help with that?
A: A scientific observation of the regrowth of kelp would be a great thing to study. By observing which species of seaweed grow back, how healthy they appear to be and how much regrowth there is, we can analyze the knock-on effects of removing excess kina from Matheson Bay’s rocky reef. This is something that I would love to be involved in.
“If you want to see a change in our oceans in your lifetime, action must be taken now.”
- Lennon Kingston
For the future of our oceans
What changes would you like to see in your lifetime, in regard to the way society treats our ocean?
I would like to see more of New Zealand's ocean, especially the Hauraki Gulf, included in Marine Reserve areas as currently only 617 km² of ocean is classified as protected around the mainland coast of New Zealand. I would also like to see a change in the fishing industry, particularly in the methods fisheries use to catch fish. Their current destructive methods of trawling not only tear up habitats from the seafloor but also catch unwanted species that are left to die and are wasted. These methods are far from sustainable. Currently, these visions are not seen as attainable, but this is what I hope the ocean will be like in my lifetime.
Lennon (left) harvesting kina to promote kelp regrowth at Te Kohuroa Matheson Bay.
Q: Finally, what is the most important message you would like to share with the people of Aotearoa?
A: For the people of my generation: When it comes to marine restoration, time will not wait for you in the grand scheme of things. If you want to see a change in our oceans in your lifetime, action must be taken now before we reach a critical turning point in the destruction of our oceans.
A: For the people of older generations: Looking at the current statistics and projections for how our oceans are declining in health and what they are projected to be in the future, action needs to be taken now to prevent critical consequences, even if those consequences won't affect you. If these consequences won't affect you in your lifetime, the generations that follow will feel the effects of your lack of effort.
“When it comes to marine restoration, time will not wait for you in the grand scheme of things.”
Thank you Lennon, for this incredible insight into your volunteering journey with Te Kohuroa Rewilding and for adding your voice to the growing call to action, to support the regeneration of our precious moana (ocean).
About the Author
Lennon Kingston is a 16 year old marine conservation advocate and a passionate rewilding volunteer. He lives in Sandspit and is studying Environmental Science to look for future solutions to the impacts of overfishing within Aotearoa New Zealand’s oceans.