Sea Keeper Profile: Dr. John Stark
Senior Consultant / Research Scientist Cawthron Institute, Nelson.
Senior Consultant / Research Scientist Cawthron Institute, Nelson.
Dr. Stark is one of
New Zealand's leading authorities on monitoring the health of
rivers and lakes by using freshwater macroinvertebrates and fish.
He has helped industries and local governments determine how their
activities have affected rivers, streams and lakes in many areas
of New Zealand.
To give you some idea
of the extent of problems faced by New Zealand waterways, some
of the activities Dr. Stark has monitored or investigated include
the effluent from an Ammonia-Urea Plant, Petralgas, onshore oilwells,
oilfield production stations, dairy factories, tanneries, fell-mongeries,
Southern Ocean Salmon farm, municipal oxidation pond discharges
(e.g. Stratford, Eltham, Inglewood, Hawera, Kaponga, Waverley,
Blenheim), landfill leachates and seepages, effects of fine sediments
from quarries, alluvial gold-mining and river pipeline crossings.
John is very active
and has traveled all over New Zealand surveying the health of
water resources. Some of the surveys he has done include documenting
macroinvertebrate, fish, algal and macrophyte communities for
resource management plans (Waingongoro, Waiwakaiho, Stony, Patea,
Waitara, Kapuni, Waimea, Motueka, Riwaka) and a survey of 17 South
Island lakes
He developed the first
comprehensive biotic index for New Zealand streams and rivers
and has examined how current velocity, water depth, substrate,
season and flow variation affect biotic index values.
John's innovative methods
for determining river health attracted the attention of "Beyond
2000" and they produced an excellent video on how to sample
rivers which was shown on New Zealand TV on 19 July 1993.
He has written extensively
on the subject of New Zealand's fresh water habitats and the creatures
living in them. Of particular interest to serious secondary level
students who wish to learn more about water quality monitoring,
are the following selected publications
Stark, J.D.
1994. Aquatic entomology and its contribution to sustaining the
natural environment. New Zealand Entomological Society Symposium:
Entomology for Sustainable Land Use, Auckland 17 May 1994.
Stark, J.D.
1994. Water quality monitoring using the macroinvertebrate community
index and the impacts of forestry on aquatic communities. p24-33
in Hira Forest Field Trip Handout, New Zealand Institute of Forestry
Conference "NZ Plantation Forestry - a sustainable resource".
April 1994.
Stark, J.D.
1993. Performance of the Macroinvertebrate Community Index: Effects
of sampling method, sample replication, water depth, current velocity,
and substratum on index values. New Zealand Journal of Marine
and Freshwater Research 27:463-478.
Stark, J.D.
1985. A macroinvertebrate community index of water quality for
stony streams. Water & Soil Miscellaneous Publication
No.87: 53pp.
Stark, J.D.
1980. A cylinder-sampler for collecting the invertebrate fauna
of submerged aquatic vegetation. Mauri Ora 8: 45-53.
