How utterly disappointing that with its first opportunity to make a difference for life in our seas our new government has let us down – and not just us: more importantly, they’ve let down our threatened and endangered marine life.
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei’s private member’s bill – the Marine Animals Protection Law Reform Bill – aimed to help threatened Hector’s dolphins, New Zealand sea lions, albatrosses and other endangered seabirds and marine life recover from dramatic population declines and disturbances. One such sub-species - the Maui’s dolphin - has a population of just 111 individuals.
Sea pens reach a height of about 20 centimetres and can be found around Fiordland. Photo: Malcolm Francis.
When we think of life in the ocean we often think of our whales, our dolphins, fish and crayfish – things we can see and things that can see us. But actually the building blocks of life in our sea – that provide us with the oxygen we breathe, absorbs the carbon dioxide we pump into the air and regulates the weather and ocean cycling – is actually invisible to the human eye. They are microscopic. They are our plankton, diatoms and foraminifera. Our what?
Exactly. Seldom do we celebrate the very morsels that the rest of our marine wildlife could not do without. Well here’s our chance.
Google has just announced a new tool that allows viewers to take a glimpse under the sea, which goes a long way to addressing our “out of sight – out of mind mentality” currently plaguing marine conservation efforts.
Having just rolled out google sky following the ever-popular google earth, google is now giving us a chance to dive into an area that occupies 2/3 of earth’s surface.
While the impacts of climate change on land are hotly discussed, its effect on our oceans and marine life tend to fall into the ‘out of sight out of mind’ black hole. Yet the effect of increased carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere is likely to have significant impacts both on our marine life and on us - our society and our economy.
Our oceans are one of our most important carbon sinks – absorbing around a third of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by burning fossil fuels. When CO2 is dissolved in water, a new compound is formed – carbonic acid. High concentrations of carbonic acid can have effects on other compounds in our waters – calcium carbonate being one of them.
Well it’s official. 113 is the new kill quota for our threatened New Zealand sea lions – a 40% increase on last year’s quota. Set by the new Minister of Fisheries Phil Heatley, the quota determines how many sea lions the Auckland Island squid fishery can kill in the 2009 fishing season.
For good reason, Jaws has been spoofed ad nauseum. And just when you thought this line of film had breathed it’s dying breath conservationists with cameras have taken up the mantle, bringing new levels of absurdity to this genre. The recently awarded Save our Seas Foundation video is just the ticket, driving home the point that sharks pose as much threat to our safety as falling coconuts & soda machines.
New Zealand sea lions once ranged right around our coastline, however today they are largely restricted to the isolated islands of the Sub-Antarctic – with over 85% of breeding at the Auckland Islands.
Each summer the Auckland Island squid trawl fishery takes to these water with large trawl nets that scoop up squid. As well as picking up squid however, the fishing nets catch a number of sea lions. As rule-maker & whistle-blower, one of the first questions facing the new Minister of Fisheries – Phil Heatley - is how many sea-lions can be killed this season?
Why is it that a picture of a cute and cuddly kiwi or a doe-eyed dolphin gets a response, yet animals pre-dating our most ancient of species – the tuatara – get completely ignored?
Sharks are the living dinosaurs of our seas. Originating long before dinosaurs arrived, sharks are among our top predators and act as key regulators of life in our seas. They are incredibly shy and have developed as slow growing species, living long lives and producing few young – all traits that make them highly vulnerable to overfishing and habitat loss.
