Marine Reserves
Marine Reserves Legislation
There is new legislation governing marine reserves currently before Parliament. This legislation has been before a Select Committee since 2002 and has yet to be finalised.
The following looks at the current and proposed legislation and the issues that are addressed by it.
Current Legislation
The 1971 Marine Reserves Act is the current legislation used to establish and manage marine reserves administered by the Department of Conservation.
The purpose of the 1971 Marine Reserve Act is "to preserve as marine reserves 'for the scientific study of marine life', areas of New Zealand that contain underwater scenery, natural features or marine life of such distinctive quality or are so typical or beautiful or unique that their continued preservation is in the national interest".
In the 1971 Act the boundaries of a marine reserve do not extend inland beyond the foreshore, or beyond the 12 mile territorial limit. The reserves are protected from human impacts such as fishing and it is an offence to disturb marine life or pollute the water.
While these human activities are prohibited, preservation of part of the marine environment in a natural state cannot exclude natural events and change, such as disease or invasions by a new species.
This legislation is now over 35 years old and concerns about the act have led to the development of new legislation. Some of these concerns are:
- Recognition that marine reserves are not the only mechanism for protecting the marine environment, with the Fisheries Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Resource Management act and various shipping regulations all having the effect of protecting the marine environment;
- Many iwi and hapu consider that the marine reserve model restricts access of local Maori to the natural resources and sites within their traditional areas for gathering kai moana and is contrary to the Treaty of Waitangi;
- Current restriction of marine reserves to territorial waters, which excludes the possibility of establishing marine reserves in the 200 mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ);
- Concern about the public consultation processes involved in establishing a marine reserve with an identified need to improve consultation with interested groups, iwi and local communities;
- Concerns about management of marine reserves with the involvement of regional councils with responsibility for coastal management;
- Debate over whether marine reserves should be 'no take' areas or whether marine reserves should allow some forms of fishing;
- Concern that the reasons for establishing marine reserves are broader than just the scientific study of marine life.
Developing New Law
In 2001 the Department of Conservation wrote a discussion document covering relevant issues and interested parties including commercial, amateur and customary fishing sectors responded to that document at meetings, hui and by written submission.The 2002 Marine Reserves Bill was drafted. A summary of this is essential reading to understand issues relating to marine reserves. You could read the full version of the Bill. Again interested parties responded to this draft legislation by submission to a Select Committee.
Marine Reserves Bill 268kB
The Select Committee is still considering issues raised in submissions and has not yet reported back on the new Bill to the House.
The main differences between the current Act and the new Bill are that:
- The purpose of the Bill is focused on marine biodiversity protection;
- The Bill contains references to the Treaty of Waitangi and Maori interests in marine resources;
- The Bill allows marine reserves to be established anywhere between mean high water spring and the 200-mile outer limit of the exclusive economic zone.
Seafood Industry Policy on Marine Reserves
In 2002 the Seafood Industry developed a Policy on Marine Reserves. This remains the industry's policy today, which believes that the focus should be on the intended outcome (protection of marine biodiversity), not the proposed tool (marine reserves).
The industry considers that:
- The health and wellbeing of fisheries depends upon good management of all marine resources. The industry therefore supports the need for protection of marine biodiversity. But we need to get the big picture right first (for example, the Oceans Policy or the marine protected areas strategy) before we look at specific tools, such as marine reserves.
- The legislative objective of protecting a 'full range of natural marine habitats and ecosystems to effectively conserve marine biodiversity' can be achieved through many different mechanisms - marine reserves are just one tool. The industry supports an approach of:
(1) first decide what it is you want to achieve, that is: what, if anything, are you trying to protect, and what risks are you trying to manage?
(2) then choose the most appropriate way of getting there. Is that a marine reserve, Fisheries Act mechanism, Resource Management Act mechanism or so forth?
For example if the biodiversity of a unique benthic community was shown to be at risk from the effects of bottom trawling, then the Fisheries Act would be an appropriate management mechanism. If the biodiversity of a harbour was at risk from urban and agricultural runoff, then the Resource Management Act would be the appropriate mechanism. If a unique marine ecosystem was at risk from a range of threats, then a marine reserve may be an appropriate mechanism.
- The industry does not support a policy approach based on protecting X% of the EEZ, or X% of the marine environment, or establishing X new marine reserves over the next two years. These are just slogans with no basis in ecological reality. An ad hoc, opportunistic approach to the creation of marine reserves is unlikely to achieve any biodiversity protection objectives.
Industry's view of the purpose of marine reserves
- The industry considers that the purpose of the Marine Reserves Act should be to provide 'high level' protection of marine biodiversity - i.e. marine reserves should be the preferred protection mechanism only where full protection from all sources of controllable risk is required. It is therefore appropriate that all marine reserves should be strictly 'no take'.
- Marine reserves should not be established to protect historic heritage, natural features or scenic values, or to provide tourism opportunities or 'places to look at fish' which can be protected without total exclusion, but should focus on ‘high end' protection for special biodiversity that is vulnerable to a range of risks.
- Marine reserves should not be established to protect 'representative samples' of marine ecosystems. If an ecosystem is common or typical, then a less 'exclusive' management mechanism can be used to protect it.
- Scientific study and non-extractive recreational use should be allowed in marine reserves only where these do not conflict with the objective of marine reserves - i.e. high level protection of biodiversity.
- Extension of the Marine Reserves Act into the EEZ is unnecessary and inconsistent with international obligations. Marine protection in the EEZ is already managed under the Fisheries Act 1996 and the Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone and Exclusive Economic Zone Act 1977.
- The industry's view is that marine reserves are NOT fisheries management tools
The industry considers that:
- Arguments about the beneficial effects of marine reserves on fisheries are imported from overseas jurisdictions where fisheries are essentially unmanaged and fishing practices are unsustainable. These arguments do not apply in New Zealand where fisheries are managed sustainably under the Quota Management System. The QMS already sets catch limits well above the level at which each stock can replenish itself.
- Introducing extensive closed areas into an already sustainable QMS will simply displace effort into other areas and result in sustainability risks and increased conflicts between users.
- New Zealand's entire EEZ is already a marine protected area in relation to fishing effects, by virtue of the Quota Management System and environmental provisions of the Fisheries Act.
- The concurrence role of the Minister of Fisheries should be retained because of the significant implications of marine reserves for the sustainability and utilisation of fisheries resources.
- An alternative framework for marine protection
The industry sees 'protection' as an integrated component within the broader objective of utilisation within sustainable limits. We do not support a management approach that sets up a false dichotomy between 'protection' and 'use'.
We envisage a marine environment that provides for a continuum of management options. Large areas of the marine environment will be completely unaffected by human activities, but some areas will be intensely modified (at least in the short to medium term). Between these two extremes, many areas will be subject to some effects on biodiversity which can be 'avoided, remedied or mitigated' through a variety of mechanisms and over a variety of timescales.
The industry considers that it is an urgent priority for all affected parties (government agencies, users of marine resources, iwi, NGOs and science providers) to work together to develop a policy framework for marine biodiversity protection. Some of the issues that would need to be explored in such a policy framework are:
- what is meant by marine biodiversity?
- what types of ecosystems and habitats would need to be protected in order to ensure protection of a full range of biodiversity (i.e. what does 'representative' mean)?
- what scale (spatial scale, temporal scale, replicates, etc) of protection would be required in order to meet the overall objective?
- what are the risks that we are seeking to protect biodiversity from; and
- what protection mechanisms are most appropriate in different circumstances.
The industry's position on the 2002 Marine Reserves Bill is fully outlined in SeaFIC's submission on the Marine Reserves Bill and the NZ Rock Lobster Industry Council's submission.
The industry has addressed issues such as whether marine reserves result in more fish for everyone and the implications for establishing marine reserves in the EEZ. The seafood industry has been considering the economic impact of establishing marine reserves.An article by the industry's senior economist offers a cost benefit perspective on marine reserves.
A study of the costs to commercial fishing of establishing a marine reserve was completed for the proposed Nugget Point Reserve in 2002 Page updated January 2007