Marine reserve initiatives are one example of how we can protect the biodiversity of our marine environment and buffer fish stocks against total plunder
Marine reserve initiatives are one example of how we can protect the biodiversity of our marine environment and buffer fish stocks against total plunder
Just as national parks provide a safe haven for native flora and fauna, marine reserves offer a secure environment for marine animals to live and breed. Coastal reserves supply opportunities for scientists to monitor species and for everyone else to explore and enjoy marine ecosystems in their natural setting.
Dr Bill Ballantine is New Zealand’s leading campaigner for marine reserves. In 1965 he and his Auckland University colleagues proposed a ‘no take’ sanctuary, where habitat and marine life would be undisturbed by fishing, diving, harbour construction or mining. After a six-year fight, the Marine Reserve Act was enacted in 1971.
There are 30 marine reserves in New Zealand today. Local conservation groups, tangata whenua, fishers, divers, marine scientists and other interest groups have all played a part in lodging reserve applications.
The primary purpose of a reserve is to maintain or restore the biodiversity and natural processes of a specific area. They allow exploited fish stocks to recover and at the same time create an invaluable resource for education, conservation
and recreation.
Marine reserve areas also feed into coastal areas where people can fish, providing an incentive for others to support a marine reserve network.
Taputeranga Marine Reserve, in Wellington’s south coast, is New Zealand’s newest reserve.
“The coast is renowned for being rugged and dangerous but it provides fantastic diving and fishing when conditions permit,” says Simon Williams, a local diver, fisher and surfer. “I’ve been diving and fishing on the coast for 20 years and my Dad has fished it for more than 35. The more accessible spots close to the city get hammered and I think the idea of a marine reserve to help replenish these stocks is great. Anything that’s done to protect our fishery is embraced by most recreational fishermen.”
Collectively, reserves protect seven percent of New Zealand’s territorial sea. However, 99 percent of these protected waters are in the offshore islands groups, Auckland and Kermadec. The area of mainland coastal sea that is protected is smaller than Abel Tasman – our smallest national park. Of New Zealand’s total marine environment, just 0.3 percent is protected in marine reserves, but in those areas, the results have been overwhelmingly positive.
Okakari Marine Reserve (or Goat Island) is New Zealand’s oldest marine reserve. Tony Enderby, a photojournalist and tour operator at Discover Goat Island, as well as the author of Guide to New Zealand’s Marine Reserves, has watched it develop over time. “The shallow areas were once dominated by sea urchins,” he says. “After the reserve was established, predators such as snapper and crayfish fed on the urchins and controlled their numbers. A kelp forest flourished and
20 years later butter fish and silver drummer moved in … this is what the coastline would once have been like all around the upper North Island.”
Largest of all is the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve – extending 12 nautical miles from the cliffs and beaches of its islands out to the edge of the territorial sea. The reserve is large even by world standards, and covers 745,000 hectares or 7,450 square kilometres. Meanwhile down south in our chilly subantarctic waters, the Auckland Islands/Motu Maha Marine Reserve covers an area of about 484,000 hectares of the Southern Ocean – providing safe breeding ground for the Southern right whale, New Zealand sea lion and yellow-eyed penguin.
–Kate Anna
