Seaweek 2009: More Than Meets the Eye
While the essential theme of Seaweek continues with the call for each and every one of us to take responsibility for the seas around us - "It Starts With Me" - in 2009 we will be thinking particularly about what lies under the surface.
One of the challenges of marine conservation comes from the fact that we only really see what lies around and over the sea, rather than the immense scope of life and geography which lies beneath it.
In New Zealand this is directly relevant to all of us - the ocean is our front lawn and our back yard and we all influence it for better or for worse.
So 2009 is the year to get as many masks and goggles on as many faces as possible and show people the magic under the waves. It's time for us to know more about this environment - its creatures, its plant life, the quality of the water and what affects it.
And for those who can't do that, there are always rockpools to be explored. As any old hand will tell you, the trick is to change scale. On land, we look for the sweeping landscape, the towering kauri, the biggest and brightest birds and animals. Under the water you discover that some of the most beautiful things on the planet are 2 cm long.
And even so, one day you might get as lucky as the child in the picture. Photographer Roger Grace was there when she came across this whopper scorpionfish while at the Poor Knights with EMR (http://www.marinenz.org.nz/index.php).