Introducing NZ-VR: Our new virtual underwater experience
Growing up, James Frankham would spend summers with his family at the bottom end of Waiheke Island. On any given day, he could look up or down the Waiheke Channel and see two or three ‘work-ups’ of kahawai. The work-ups - where baitfish are rounded up into a ball and...
Blake DOC Ambassadors Announced
Five young New Zealanders will be packing their bags and heading into the environment this summer after each winning a Blake DOC Ambassador Award. Through the Sir Peter Blake Trust’s partnership with the Department of Conservation (DOC), the following young people...
Millie’s promise to help Tara protect our oceans
On board Sir Peter Blake’s old expedition boat in the Caribbean Sea, Millie Mannering watched pilot whales dancing around the schooner’s bow, and dipped a net into a massive bloom of phytoplankton stirred up by a devastating hurricane. The 19-year-old swam in azure...
Students to voyage to Chatham Rise on board RV Tangaroa
Two talented young New Zealanders are on their way to the Chatham Rise on board NIWA’s Research Vessel Tangaroa as part of a month-long science voyage, after winning a coveted Blake NIWA Ambassadorship. Victoria University student Siobahn O'Connor (21) and Otago...
Sir Peter’s visionary words shape the Trust’s new strategy
In his final log entry onboard Seamaster, anchored in the mouth of the Amazon, Sir Peter Blake wrote what would become prophetic words. “We want to restart people caring for the environment… through adventure, through participation, through education and through...
Watene’s war on kiore, and crusade for kororā
Watene Campbell has given a piece of his heart to a little critter on Wellington’s shoreline, while waging war on a less-lovable varmint. Campbell, a 17-year-old student at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Mokopuna in Wellington, makes time in his frenetic schedule for the...
A relentless champion of the underwater world
What does the Hauraki Gulf smell like? How are cats killing Māui dolphins? Why do mother and calf humpback whales congregate in Antarctica’s Ross Sea region? That’s a mere slice of the conundrums Dr Rochelle Constantine, a relentless champion for the marine...
2018 Blake Medallist and Blake Leaders announced
The Hon. Dame Tariana Turia has been awarded the Blake Medal, the premium award for leadership achievement in New Zealand, by the Sir Peter Blake Trust. The Blake Medal is given to acknowledge and celebrate an extraordinary New Zealand leader who has made an...
Engaging more young Kiwi leaders to take on the environment
James Gibson, the Sir Peter Blake Trust’s new CEO, has a passion for environmental leadership – and a personal incentive to conserve New Zealand’s environment, he tells Suzanne McFadden. It is James Gibson’s principal goal to prepare more young Kiwi leaders to tackle...
Inka takes government to task on plastic wrap
As Kiwi teenagers were encouraged to seek solutions and make a difference during an action-packed week at the Sir Peter Blake Trust's 'Youth EnviroLeaders Forum' (YELF), one student immediately put that advice to work, challenging the NZQA. Suzanne McFadden reports....
Anzac’s call for a sustainable future
As a young boy, Anzac Gallate’s head was filled with tropical fish. He poured over “tons of books” with fish swimming across their pages; he had his own home aquarium. “I wanted to be a marine biologist so badly,” he says. Now, at 17, Gallate has discovered fish he...
Illustrious skipper heartbroken by a sea of plastic
Few sailors have circumnavigated the globe as many times as Dee Caffari, but every time she does, another piece of her heart breaks. The British sailor’s achievements at sea are celebrated - the first woman to sail single-handed, non-stop around the world in both...