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A natural connection between Te Arai Stream and two dune lakes – Lakes Slipper and Spectacle – has been restored in a bid to improve the survival of New Zealand’s most endangered native birds, the tara iti (fairy tern).
Both lakes are critical feeding grounds for native fish and the fairy tern, which relies on the fish to survive.
The project was funded through Auckland Council’s Natural Environment Targeted Rate, which supports environmental protection and restoration work across the region.
While most bridge and road projects aim to speed up human travel, this project had a very different goal: to help native fish swim freely upstream again and, in doing so, help save a species on the brink.
“For the tara iti, every fish counts,” council’s senior freshwater advisor Matt Bloxham says.
“There are only 11 breeding females left in the wild. If they can’t access fish-rich areas like these lakes, we risk losing them forever.”
At the centre of the problem was a culvert beneath Te Arai Point Road. Known locally as Coulters Culvert No. 2, it had long blocked fish like inanga, a key whitebait species, from reaching the lakes. Erosion beneath the pipe created a sharp drop that native fish, unlike salmon, simply could not jump.
“Native fish don’t have the leaping ability people might imagine. Even a small drop or protruding pipe becomes a brick wall for species like inanga.”
This isn’t an isolated issue. Across New Zealand, thousands of small, poorly designed culverts block access to kilometres of freshwater habitat, rendering them lifeless despite appearing healthy from above.
What makes this Te Arai project exceptional is that it was pre-emptive.
“Usually, action happens only after infrastructure fails,” Bloxham says.
“But with tara iti, time is too precious. We couldn’t wait for the culvert to collapse – we had to act.”
The result is a new box culvert, purpose-built to support fish passage, and barely noticeable to the beachgoers and surfers who travel the road to Te Arai Regional Park. But for native fish, and the tara iti who feed on them, the difference is monumental.
This project is part of a broader ecological restoration driven by the local iwi, Te Uri o Hau, who have revegetated more than 1.3 kilometres of the Te Arai Stream. All native plants were grown from seed in their nursery, creating a thriving buffer zone to support aquatic life.
“It’s a quiet achievement in a quiet place, but it’s the kind of work that underpins the survival of species and the health of our ecosystems. It’s restoration at its most meaningful.”
