What's being described as hotels for whitebait will be set up around Christchurch this weekend.
Whitebait Photo: 123rf
About 30 volunteers along with teams from the local Ngai Tahu hapu will be installing nearly 200 straw bales along the lower reaches of the Heathcote river, and Lake Kate Sheppard today.
The bales will provide spawning habitat for the only whitebait species found in Christchurch.
Project leader Shelley McMurtrie said the bales were easy to install and monitor, and provided ideal conditions for whitebait to lay and hatch their eggs during the spawning season, which runs from February to May.
She said the bales would also highlight where along the river the whitebait preferred to lay their eggs in the post-earthquake environment.