6 Recommended Directions of Further Work
This report and discussion has highlighted several areas where further work could be undertaken or advanced to improve the monitoring, reporting and management of New Zealand lakes. These are:
- identify specific gaps in the monitoring network by using the NIWA/DoC multivariate classification system to classify lakes according to types and pressures
- develop reference conditions for trophic status or appropriate management objectives for different lake types
- review lake management objectives set in regional plans and report the results of lake monitoring against these objectives nationally. Many councils have begun this review process
- review the integration of lake monitoring and regional plans - is monitoring addressing the appropriate questions and are the results feeding back into the planning process? Again, many councils have begun this process
- update the 1986 version of the Inventory of New Zealand Lakes which was produced in 1986 to allow a more comprehensive understanding of information available on lake water quality around New Zealand.
