Raglan based marine science business making waves

A shared passion for the ocean, rivers and water quality has led to a successful international business for six friends. 

eCoast Marine Consulting and Research is a small, independent marine and freshwater research consultancy based in Raglan on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. 

As well as being life-long and passionate surfers and ocean enthusiasts, the company’s directors and employees all hold PhDs or other postgraduate qualifications in coastal science, oceanography, engineering, marine biology and physics. 

Since it began five years ago, eCoast has begun to make its mark, both in New Zealand and internationally, with its work in a number of areas, from sustainable coastal development and coastal erosion to surf break monitoring, management and tsunami modelling. 

They provide advisory services and technical expertise to clients in New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific and around the world. 

About 50 per cent of their current work is international, says co-director and oceanographer Dougal Greer. That means a fair amount of Skype meetings and some travel, with field work to sometimes remote locations. 

In the Pacific, a lot of work is around coastal erosion and the impact of development on the ocean. “Water quality is an issue,” says Greer. “Although there is good political will for change, and often environmental law similar to our Resource Management Act, many small island developing states don’t have internal capacity to put robust systems in place to protect water, as we do in New Zealand.” 

They are often called on by regional councils, NGOs and other groups to do research into coastal areas, estuaries and waterways. “We are scientists and we are there to give a scientific point of view,” says Greer. [For more on eCoast’s work, see side bar] 

The eCoast team includes environmental scientist and managing director Dr Shaw Mead, and a team of four directors – oceanographer and surf scientist Ed Atkin, coastal engineer Jose Borrero, marine ecologist Tim Haggitt and Greer, and senior consultant and civil engineer David Phillips. 

“One of the things that bonds us all as a team is water quality – coming from the land, through the rivers and estuaries, and to the sea,” says Greer. “Water quality is an extremely valuable resource in New Zealand, and it’s under a lot of pressure in many places. It is a taonga to protect.” 

“We are all passionate about water quality as a topic – it’s not just business for us,” says Greer. “We all enjoy the water – surfing, sailing, fishing and scuba diving – and we understand how important it is to people.” 

GROWTH OF THE BUSINESS 

eCoast began in 2012, and Greer admits that the early years of business were hard. “You are always busy,” he says. “In the early years of a business you are often caught in the trap of needing to be IN the business and DO the work, but you are also LOOKING for business.” 

When they were able to hire their first new employee “it took the pressure off”, says Greer. 

Raising awareness and communicating what they did was also a challenge. “When you start you are known as individuals, but your brand is not known, and that’s a big challenge, so getting out and getting in front of people and letting them know what you do is important,” says Greer. 

The eCoast team attend a lot of conferences and meet with people to “make opportunities”. As they become better known, word-of-mouth has helped. 

Part of that is delivering on their word, and being reliable. “We don’t produce a widget you can sell; every job is different. So for us it’s about building relationships and trust with people, and part of that is getting work and doing it on time and on budget.” 

BUSINESS SUPPORT AND FUNDING 

eCoast has benefitted from business support and funding over the years – receiving a number of grants to pursue key research projects. 

Waikato Innovation Park’s Business Growth team has played a role in assisting eCoast – supporting them to apply for Callaghan Innovation funding. 

In October 2016 eCoast received a $30,000 R&D Career Grant towards six months’ work by a recently graduated student, who has since gone on to become a full time employee. 

“It was a hugely positive experience for us,” says Greer. “To receive that funding has been massive. It exposes you to the (student) talent that you wouldn’t otherwise necessarily see.” 

The grant was on top of several other small grants eCoast had received over the years to pay for undergraduate students to work on R&D projects. 

Callaghan Innovation is a Crown entity established in February 2013 to support businesses to increase their investment in research and development. 

Greer says the grants meant that important research projects were advanced, that otherwise may not have happened. 

“The world of data is expanding, and technology is advancing fast,” says Greer. “Every day we have ideas of things we could do, but getting the time to do research and development can be hard to find. So getting money from Callaghan Innovation that we can use on projects and for R&D is a total dream.” 

Craig Purcell, from the Waikato Business Growth team, says eCoast are making waves in their field. “eCoast is an organisation that has the resilience and determination to keep at things they are passionate about,” says Purcell. “They also have a nice balance of commercial realism that keeps the bills paid and sets them up the nicely for the future.” 

The Waikato Business Growth team offers free advice and business support to Waikato-area entrepreneurs and start-ups. It is funded by the Regional Business Partner Network (RBPN) which is supported by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) and Callaghan Innovation. 

Their aim is to support businesses who have high-growth aspirations, are export focused, technology-driven or have innovative products or services with real commercial merit. 

The team includes business advisors Kahurangi Taylor, Hayley Smith, Peter Davey, Novell Gopal and Waikato mentor manager Tony Kane. They are based at Waikato Innovation Park in Ruakura, Hamilton, but their services are available to companies throughout the wider Waikato region (including Coromandel and Taupo). 

Greer says they appreciate all the advice and support they have received. 

“Craig gave us great advice and takes a big picture approach,” says Greer. “When you are in the business it’s hard to step out of it and he did that for us. We are scientists but he came at us with none of that, just pure business advice which was really valuable. It’s very important to get external advice when starting a business.” 

Purcell’s assistance with applying for grants was also invaluable. “Thanks to Craig, we found the whole process of applying for funding MUCH easier, and not wrapped in red tape.” 

In addition, eCoast have benefitted from business mentoring thanks to Tony Kane, who is the Waikato mentor manager for Waikato Innovation Park. “Tony Kane has helped us a lot with developing a more strategic way of thinking, and meeting with him regularly has been very valuable too.” 

To date the Waikato Business Growth team has engaged with more than 1,400 businesses. About 60 per cent of those are outside Hamilton, and once a month advisors travel to seven regional Waikato towns – Thames, Paeroa, Tokoroa, Taupo, Raglan, Huntly and Tuakau – to meet with start-ups and other businesses. 

TIP ON APPLYING FOR FUNDING – from Craig Purcell, Waikato Innovation Park’s Business Growth team 

1. Get in early. Purcell says it is important for those with innovative business ideas or products to get advice early on, as they may be eligible for a Callaghan Innovation grant. 

2. Where are your gaps? Think about areas that you or your staff need upskilling in. You may be eligible for Regional Business Partner co-funding through the NZTE Capability Development Voucher Scheme. These vouchers enable people to upskill in areas such as strategic planning, marketing, capital raising, business systems, finance, sustainability, managing resources, governance and exporting – with access to around 60 local coaches and trainers. 

3. Talk to a business advisor. Filling out forms for grant applications can be challenging at the best of times. Our team know about the Callaghan Innovation grants and can help make the process a lot easier. We can also offer advice about your business, and next steps. An initial ‘discovery’ meeting is typically followed by an action plan that details opportunities as well as barriers to growth. 

For more information on free advice from Waikato Innovation Park’s Business Growth Team please contact 07 857 0538 or businessgrowth@wipltd.co.nz  

ECOAST - KEY PROJECTS 

MAPPING WAIKATO ESTUARIES 

For more than 10 years eCoast has been modelling water quality on the Waikato’s west coast. The project has involved working with local communities and the Waikato Regional Council, and creating computer models to simulate the movement of water and contaminants from land to the marine environment. “We have been able to simulate how fresh water comes into the harbours and how the tides and winds move it around, and we could see how any contaminants get flushed out of the harbours,” says Greer, who currently leads the project. 

Greer says the issue of how harbours are affected by pollution from rivers, sewage spills and other sources of contamination is a concern for councils around New Zealand. “Estuaries are extremely important areas; they are highly productive, and are breeding and nursery grounds for many marine species, so healthy estuaries are really important from that point of view,” says Greer. “They are also incredibly sensitive, they are the culmination of everything you do on the land. For some people estuaries are in the ‘too hard basket’ – they are not rivers but they are not the sea – they are something in between, so they haven’t got a lot of attention. There is a change in thinking about estuaries now, and that’s really exciting.” 

PLANNING FOR TSUNAMIS 

The team from eCoast have been studying tsunamis for a number of years, including computer modelling of worst-case tsunami events for the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions, and for New Zealand more broadly, for the purposes of responding to tsunami events. Detailed computer modelling can identify areas in a port or harbour which are particularly vulnerable to tsunami induced currents, and help councils and authorities plan accordingly. 

PROTECTING SURF BREAKS 

As surfers, the eCoast team are interested in sustainably managing surf breaks and coastlines – personally as well as professionally. 

Recently, eCoast was in the news talking about the company’s research into how surf breaks work, and how they should be managed. Five cameras are being mounted at key surf breaks around New Zealand, including Raglan’s Manu Bay, Piha, Whangamata, Lyall Bay in Wellington and Wainui Beach in Gisborne, with additional data coming from cameras at Aramoana and Whareakeake, Otago. The measuring, modelling and monitoring is ongoing, and is a project that will set another resource management precedent for New Zealand on the international stage. 

OTHER INTERNATIONAL WORK 

“We’ve done lots of work relating to climate change in the islands – Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati, Mauritius, the Seychelles and the Marshall Islands. One thing about climate change and the sea level rising is that people are experiencing it as erosion, and with each storm the waters come up higher and there is more erosion.”