David Phizacklea is a Senior Resource Planner with Environment Bay of Plenty in Tauranga involved in growth management and coastal planning projects. David has previously worked for Tauranga City Council and the Department of Conservation in coastal planning and resource management roles. He has been a coastal society member since 1996 and has an enormous interest in coastal processes and management, particularly coastal hazard management.

David graduated from the University of Waikato with a Master of Science degree with first class honours in earth sciences in 1993. His thesis investigated the sediment budget and beach morphodynamics of the central Bay of Plenty coast from Pukehina Beach to Matata.

David's professional highlights have included appearing before the Environment Court as the coastal expert for the Western Bay of Plenty District Council and Pukehina Ratepayers Association who successfully opposed continued sand extraction at Otamarakau, as well as publishing two state of the environment reports for Tauranga City in 2000 and 2004, and managing the planning of a new town for 12,500 people at Papamoa East.

David spends his spare time in the summer enjoying cricket and touch rugby. He currently captains the Otumoetai Cadets Cricket Club’s B-grade team, and in the winter continues to be 'semi-retired' from rugby in an effort to find solace in more sedate pastimes.

David can be contacted at david.phizacklea@envbop.govt.nz

Eric Verstappen
Treasurer

Eric is a Resource Scientist (Rivers & Coast) with the Tasman District Council, a Unitary Authority blessed with wild rivers and superb coastline. Eric has been working in the Regional Govt sector since 1986, having graduated from the former MWD.

Eric has specialist interests in river and coastal processes, investigations, hazard assessment and resource management processes and planning. He is particularly interested in furthering the knowledge and understanding of the coastal system and the impacts of human development, and champions the sustainable and holistic management of river and coastal environments. Eric is Treasurer of the New Zealand Coastal Society.

Jenni Paul is part of the Policy & Strategy Group at Environment Waikato where she has worked on coastal issues since 2004. Prior to joining EW she spent two years with Rodney District Council, initially processing resource consent applications, before moving into policy where her focus was on coastal and natural resource issues.

At EW, Jenni is involved with a variety of projects including work on coastal hazards and local coastal planning exercises. A key area of focus recently has been west coast issues within the Waikato Region.

Jenni completed a BSocSci in Geography and Resources and Environmental Planning at Waikato University in 1999. She is currently studying towards a Masters degree in REP also at Waikato University

Rick Liefting is a coastal scientist with Tonkin and Taylor (Hamilton)
and has 9 years experience in the coastal field. After completing his
M.Sc from Waikato University, Rick spent 5 1/2 years at NIWA (Hamilton)
in the coastal Hydrodynamics/Physical groups and spent a lot of time
diving and doing field work. Rick then enjoyed a 1 year stint as
coastal scientist at Environment Waikato. Rick is particularly
interested in shoreline dynamics, coastal hazards and estuarine
sedimentation. At Tonkin and Taylor Rick is currently undertaking
coastal processes and hazard assessments for regional and local
councils.

Outside of the coastal realm, Rick is a part time exercise instructor at
the Uni Rec Centre in Hamilton and enjoys motor sport and spending time
with his family

Doug Ramsay, who recently joined the committee for the NZCS in 2003, is a coastal consultant based at NIWA's Hamilton office. Originally from Scotland, he joined NIWA just over a year ago after a total of ten years at HR Wallingford, an international environmental and engineering research and consultancy organisation in the UK. Prior to this Doug had spent two years as coastal management advisor to the Government of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Although Doug is a Chartered Civil Engineer with most of his career spent as a coastal engineer his experience covers a broad range of technical disciplines including applied coastal geomorphology, coastal engineering and shoreline management planning, coastal hazard management, risk and vulnerability assessments, environmental impact assessment, and community participation.

Within NIWA, Doug is leader of the NIWA / GNS Natural Hazards Centre and responsible for the development and coordination of coastal related consultancy work. This sees him involved in wide variety of projects both in New Zealand and in the Pacific region, most recently in Tuvalu and American Samoa. A new project in the pipeline will see him involved with a hazard management project in Tonga.

Being relatively new to New Zealand, weekends are still being spent making good use of one of Hamilton's more endearing features - its central location, ideal for exploring the rest of the North Island.

Contact Doug at: d.ramsay@niwa.co.nz

David is a lecturer in geography in the School of Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington where he specialises in coastal geomorphology and processes. He came to Vic in 2001 after a Post doc position at the University of Wollongong, Australia where he completed his PhD in 1999. David is also the NZ representative for the Australian and New Zealand Geomorphology group and is the Vic representative for the Australasian Quaternary Society.

David research interests are highly varied. He has focused on coral reef evolution investigating high-latitude reefs in the Tasman Sea and muddy ones in Northern Australia related to both climatic and environmental change. He has also investigated some of the formative processes of shore platform evolution on oceanic islands. In NZ he has been investigating estuarine sedimentation and evolution from mud flats to beaches. Some of this work is being conducted in conjunction with Masters students focusing on Whanganui Inlet on the South Island. He also has a number of students working on erosion related beach and dunes issues on the Kapiti coast as well as the longer-term evolution of the whole coastal plain. The latter project being in collaboration with the regional council (Horizons.MW).

Apart from coastal systems David has a keen interest in the general landform evolution of NZ, especially during the Holocene, where the landscape systems are much more active and dynamic than much of Australia. His teaching reflects this interest covering almost all Earth Science disciplines at Victoria.

To contact David, the email address is: David.Kennedy@vuw.ac.nz

Kath Coombes

Kath Coombes joined the NZCS committee in October 2004.
Kath is a coastal project leader with the Auckland Regional Council. She is involved in a range of coastal planning and policy projects addressing issues such as the Auckland City waterfront redevelopment, mangrove expansion, coastal erosion and integrated coastal management.

Prior to joining the ARC in March 2004, Kath was an environmental policy advisor at North Shore City Council for 4 years where her focus was on coastal, stormwater and hazards issues. Before joining North Shore City, Kath worked for the ARC Parks Department and the Wellington Regional Council. Kath has a Masters in Environmental and Resource Planning from Massey University and a MSc in Geography from Otago University.

Kath can be contacted at: kath.coombes@arc.govt.nz.

Cushla Loomb

Cushla is currently a Senior Coastal Planner with Beca Planning, enjoying her work on a variety of coastal projects, both statutory and strategic in the Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions. Prior to joining Beca, Cushla worked as the Coastal and Discharges Consent Planner at Tasman District Council.

Cushla has always had a strong interest in, and passion for, the coastal environment and consequently focused her university studies in that area. Cushla completed a MSc Degree in Coastal Science at the University of Waikato in 2001. Her thesis investigated the likely causes and possible solutions for the on-going sedimentation of West Harbour Marina in Auckland.

After 7 years of membership, Cushla is looking forward to contributing to the NZCS committee that she recently joined in 2006.

Deidre Hart

Deirdre is a lecturer in coastal studies in the Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, where she specialises in researching and teaching about high-energy temperate and tropical Pacific coastal environments. Deirdre is passionate about the dissemination and use of coastal science through management, education and community engagement. Her qualifications include a PhD from UNSW and MSc Hons from University of Canterbury.

Central to Deirdre’s research interests are multidisciplinary approaches to examining coastal systems. This includes understanding relationships between coastal sediments, geomorphology, ecology and hydrodynamics. In New Zealand she is currently researching mixed sand and gravel river mouth lagoon dynamics and management, tsunami vulnerability and coastal classifications. Her international research projects include reef island evolution, carbonate and sediment production and beach nourishment in Torres Strait, coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, ocean dynamics and toxic algal blooms in the East China Sea and Korea, and marine park and coastal resource management in the Maldives and Indonesia. Her teaching and graduate student groups reflect these interests in temperate and tropical coastal science and management.

Contact Deirdre at deirdre.hart@canterbury.ac.nz or go to http://www.geog.canterbury.ac.nz

Rosalind Wilton

Rosalind is currently a Senior Policy Advisor in the Local Government and Community Branch of the Department of Internal Affairs. Prior to working in central government, she worked for Environment Waikato, managing the coastal policy programme, and for Franklin District Council as a resource management policy officer. Rosalind completed a MSc in Environmental Science and Geography at Auckland University in 1992. She is currently studying part time towards an LLB. She has recently joined the NZCS committee this year and hopes she can contribute from a central government policy perspective. Rosalind lives in Wellington and after many years in landlocked Hamilton is happy to finally be living near to the coast. Rosalind can be contacted at rosalind.wilton@dia.govt.nz.

Hannah Hopkins

Hannah Hopkins joined the NZCS Committee in July 2005 as the Co-ordinator.

Hannah is the Personal Assistant to the Group Manager, Policy & Strategy, at Environment Waikato and is involved in various Council projects. Hannah has been working at Environment Waikato since 2002..

Hannah can be contacted on hannah.hopkins@ew.govt.nz with any enquiries.

Justin has worked at Environment Canterbury since 1997 as a Coastal Resources Officer and since 2003 as the Coastal and Fluvial Resources Scientist. An MSc. Geography graduate from the University of Canterbury with a stint of post-graduate Resource Studies at Lincoln University, Justin’s role at Environment Canterbury includes overseeing and designing ECan’s extensive coastal and fluvial monitoring and investigations programme.

He is particularly interested in applying and disseminating data collected within the programme to all aspects of coastal management, particularly the avoidance and mitigation of coastal hazards and state of the environment reporting. He also enjoys educating school and community groups on coastal processes and coastal geomorphology. Justin has been a member of the Coastal Society since 1997.

Iain Dawe
NZCS Wellington Regional Co-ordinator

Photo and bio to be added shortly

Neil Daykin
NZCS Hawke's Bay Regional Coordinator

Neil is currently a Design Engineer with Hawke’s Bay Regional Council. After a mixture of clinical drug trial, council and waste/storm water engineering consultancy jobs in the UK, he moved over to NZ from Devon in November 2003, arriving the day England won the Rugby World Cup. Initially in Auckland with an engineering consultancy, Neil soon moved to sunny Hawke’s Bay and joined the Regional Council. A BSc Hons in Earth Science from Aberystwyth University and an MSc in Applied Marine Science from Plymouth University (specialising in coastal process, management & engineering) make up the academic background. He recently qualified as a member of the Chartered Institute of Water & Environmental Managers

His position at Council involves dealing with a diverse range of projects and council activities that include flood risk assessment, flood modelling, flood and river control works and of course being one of the coastal specialists in Council, coastal processes, management & engineering. Other ongoing projects Neil is working on are the development of multi-user pathways along Council owned stopbanks, constructed wetlands and drain/stream development and enhancement. Neil also provides advice to the Council's consent and compliance sections over a wide range of issues especially coastal ones.
When not found at his desk, Neil can be found assessing the local coastal process from his surfboard, providing council and the Civil Defence Emergency Group with real time feed back on coastal hazards.

To contact Neil you can email him at daykin@hbrc.govt.nz.

Photo and bio to be added shortly

Photo and bio to be added shortly

Mike Hilton is a member of the NZCS Management Committee and Assistant-Editor of Coastal News. He is a senior lecturer in the Department of Geography, University of Otago, specializing in coastal management and processes, particularly in relation to dune geomorphology, ecology and restoration. He came to Otago in 1995 via three years at the National University of Singapore, various contract positions in New Zealand and SE Asia, two years with the head office coastal unit of the Department of Conservation and some painful camel rides in the Thar Desert. His current research is concerned with the dispersal of marram grass, processes of marram grass invasion in active dune systems and the restoration of marram-dominated dunes on Stewart Island. He teaches coastal management and planning. In his spare time he chases sheep, bees and chooks amidst a great deal of gorse beside Otago Harbor

Andre LaBonte is a director of LaBonte Coastal Consultants Limited, a consulting engineering business specializing in harbour, dune and beach restoration plans, coastal protection investigations and resource consent applications involving activity in the coastal marine zone.

He has a BSc majoring in Biological Sciences, a minor in Oceanography and Marine Biology, and a BSE degree majoring in Ocean Engineering. He has had over 35 years experience as a consultant for private, academic and government institutions.

During his career he has worked in the offshore oil industry, been involved in coastal pollution research and monitoring and served as a consultant to the United States Congress evaluating base-line environmental monitoring programs. He served as Assistant Professor and Chairman of the Marine Science department at Miami Dade Community College (University). He qualified as an aquanaut in the Scientist in the Sea program in 1974. He has been involved in coastal and ocean engineering projects on the eastern seaboard of the United States and Caribbean. Major emphasis of this work was environmental monitoring associated with beach restoration projects, inlet and coastal hydrographic surveying and engineering inspection of coastal structures.

Since moving to New Zealand in 1985, he has served as a consultant and expert witness to the Ministry of Works and the Department of Conservation at hearings regarding issues of coastal pollution in New Zealand. He worked under contract with the Department’s Northland Regional Conservancy evaluating projects associated with the Harbours Act prior to the RMA. He has served as the Minister of Conservation’s representative at Restricted Coastal Activity hearings.

As the consulting engineer to the Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society, he developed and implemented the Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Plan, being responsible for the design, implementation and monitoring associated with restoration of the Mangawhai Harbour, inlet, river channel and dune stabilization. In 1998, he, along with his wife Robin (also an ocean engineer), designed and implemented the construction phase required to remove eight 400 tonne fuel storage tanks by barge from the Marsden Power Station ocean beach for relocation to Fiji and Tauranga. Currently he is involved in the nearshore sand mining issue providing expert evidence regarding this internationally outdated practice.

Hugh Leersnyder
NZCS Auckland Regional Coordinator

Photo and bio to be added shortly

Ken Murray
NZCS Southland Regional Coordinator

kmurray@doc.govt.nz

Paul Pope
NZCS Otago Regional Coordinator

popey@xtra.co.nz

Jo Rosier works as a senior lecturer in Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Palmerston North. She lectures in the areas of planning theory, conservation policy and natural resource planning.
Currently her research is focused on evaluation of coastal plans and policies in New Zealand and the development of conservation policies at a regional level of planning.
In 2003, the Minister for Conservation commissioned Jo to independently review the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement and prepare a report that was submitted in January 2004.
Jo is also involved in a long-term, multidisciplinary project monitoring the effects of tourism on Heron Island in the Capricorn Group of islands, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland. This project began in 1985.

If you have any news about coastal matters in the Southern part of the North Island, please let Jo know by email d.j.rosier@massey.ac.nz