Project Island Song Volunteer Hub

Background

Join us to promote Project Island Song for Opua Marina’s inaugural Seafarers Festival on Saturday 14^th November. As part of a new 4-day Bay of Islands Cruisers Welcome event, the festival day has been created to showcase the best of the bay to international cruisers arriving here for the season. The event is set to be a great day of kai, live entertainment, maritime displays, local businesses, family activities and most importantly, plenty of opportunities for us to connect with people planning to visit our islands.

Visit Opua Marina's website for info here: Seafarers Festival at Bay of Islands Marina | Annual Free Family Event 

Role description

The role will involve:

• Advocacy – engaging visitors about Project Island Song and the work we do, how they can get involved or support the project through volunteering, buying calendars, merch or making donations.
• Education – raising awareness on why biosecurity when visiting the islands is so important 
• Sharing your experience – sharing what it's like being a Project Island Song volunteer and visiting the islands of Ipipiri with others.
• Having a fun volunteer experience! – Enjoying chatting with new people, connect with other volunteers and learn more about Project Island Song

Key messages:

• The islands of Ipipiri are a wildlife sanctuary where protected species have been reintroduced to thrive on their ancestral home islands.
• There are several species of rare native birds, lizards, weta and plants living on these islands. 
• Project Island Song is a partnership between the hapu at Rawhiti, DOC and the Guardians of the Bay of Islands community trust.
• The Project's aim is the ecological restoration of the seven islands of Ipipiri, Eastern Bay of Islands.
• The islands were once over-run with rats and the majority of endemic animal species no longer lived there. Project Island Song eradicated all pest mammals from all seven islands and they have been pest-free since 2009.
• Biosecurity is the ongoing work to ensure the islands stay pest-free. Pests are species of plants, animals or insects that threaten the native ecosystem. Here, the major threats are rats (they can swim and hitch rides on boats and in bags), Argentine ants (may easily be transported in camping gear), plague skinks, and weeds. 

Outcomes:

• Visitors will have more awareness about Project Island Song, biosecurity and NZ wildlife than they did before.
• Visitors will have had a positive experience interacting with our volunteers.
• Visitors will want to contribute to the project.
• Volunteers will have had a positive experience 

Date and Location:

• Saturday 14^th November 2026
• Opua Marina
• 5 Baffin Street
  Opua 0200
  Bay of Islands
• Festival start time 10am (actual set up time of stall still TBC)
• Festival finish time 4pm