Wanted: Defenders of our deep sea
Tue, 16 Dec 2008 8:50 am – Posted by Colin Ryder | 8 Comments
Guest Blogger: Colin Ryder, Wellington Branch
The announcement of Wellington’s marine reserve off the coast of Island Bay earlier this year was met with a sort of exhausted ‘hurrah’ from advocates at Forest & Bird. We were elated, but somewhat battle-weary given that we had fought for this marine reserve for 17 years.
I can’t remember what exactly I was wearing on the day we decided to take this proposal to the council but it was probably something suitably early nineties – stonewash zip-up jeans perhaps?
That’s how long ago we first mooted this proposal.
So why the long hard battle given that marine reserves replenish fish life, increase tourism and give scientists a playground for studying our untouched sea-life?
In short, fishing interests. For recreational fishers it boils down to ‘ I support marine reserves but not in my backyard’. For commercial fishers the arguments are more sophisticated. They stem from the belief that marine reserve don’t have a role in the way we manage our fish and put greater stress on the surrounding areas. In the past, the Ministry of Fisheries has sided with commercial fishers and took to trimming the boundaries of marine reserves considerably.
The history of marine reserves in New Zealand has been dogged by controversy and strong feelings since the first was mooted at Leigh (north of Auckland) more than 30 years ago. Once each was established, however, funny things happened. The fuss died down. The local community became proud of the marine reserve and assumed a sense of ownership. People came just to look at the fish (over 350,000 visit Leigh each year). And, believe it or not, fishing in the wider area actually improved.
After almost 30 years of battling to protect our marine life, we have an impressive number of marine reserves – 33 - but this doesn’t translate into much protection – just 0.3% of our waters and just 0.19% of our mainland coastal waters.
There’s no point in just grumbling about it – after all New Zealand is still a democracy and everybody is entitled to state their views and endeavour to influence political decisions and policy.
To speed things up and to avoid the pubic controversies, the former Labour Government introduced a Marine Protected Areas Policy which involves the “major stakeholders” hopefully reaching an agreement on what areas should be protected in each bio-geographical region and what form that protection should take. There was a role for public consultation in this process; which is already underway in two areas - the Sub-Antarctics and the West Coast of the South Island. Although too early to be definite, there are signs that National government could well continue the same approach.
While there are perils in such an approach, it has worked well overseas; particularly in California where, so far, about 8 percent has been set aside as full protection marine reserves in a remarkably short time.
What’s really, really important about this approach is that this is the one and only opportunity to achieve marine reserves in New Zealand waters. Think of the great State-Owned Enterprises carve-up when hundreds of thousands of hectares were allocated to conservation or for “productive use”; but in our oceans. The decision makers will be listening to public opinion – weight of submissions will be vital.
The sea horses, colourful sea-slugs and fish that fill Wellington’s waters now have a sanctuary to grow & thrive, giving me a somewhat less fitful sleep at night. However, there are plenty of sea-creatures that don’t enjoy this protection. So what’s in the seas surrounding your area? Do you think they deserve their own underwater national park? If so, how can we work together to get more local support for these areas?
Great post, great news. Would be awesome to have some links on the post for those who would like to read up about this in detail :
Heres some:
Steve Chadwicks opening speech,
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/opening+taputeranga+marine+reserve
Some interesting (and reasonable) perspectives from the other side, http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=31363
and want to know whats in the reserve, heres the webpage of the 2007 marine bioblitz, a world first!, http://www.marinebioblitz.wellington.net.nz/?q=node/1
Yay, good work Colin! But I reckon proposals for marine reserves (and other conservation measures) could do a lot better in avoiding the conflict that always seems to go with them by putting more effort into working WITH communities - and sometimes that includes people who have very different persepctives. Sure it takes time - but then so does long, drawn-out confliction, legal battles, etc.
Good point, Lucy, although the reasons our application took so long to be submitted was because of the extent of the consultation with the community. We had extensive discussions with the recreational fishers and the final boundaries in our application were the result of a negotiation in the Backbencher Pub (not that it stopped some of them from objecting to the application). The commercial fishers told us they would prefer to leave their comments untilthe Ministry of Fisheries consultation stage -which in my opinion, perverted the process, but never mind.
We dropped an earlier proposal for an eastern section around the Moa Point - Breaker Bay area because Te Ati Awa told us they used part of it for customary fishing.
There was overwhelming public support for the Marine Reserve with even two-thirds of those living in the adjoining suburbs (who in theory would have the most to “lose”) in favour of the final boundaries.
At the end of the day, Lucy, like most things. not everybody will support a particular comtentious conservation initiative, despite extension consultation and compromise. Most gains have occurred after a prolomged period of debate (and there’s nothing wrong with that) and somebody making a tough decision.
Looking back, I’m not sure what else we could have done. Some people were also going to object to a Marine Reserve in that locality, come what may.
I’d like to comment on the HOW TO part of Colin’s great blog. That is to say, whilst the new MPA Policy forums are one approach, they are NOT the only approach open to us.
So far we have two forums established: 1) Sub Antarctics and 2) the West coast of the South Island.
On the west coast, the first forum established under the new system, we are 2 years down the track and still awaiting any agreed proposals. Perhaps understandable given the range of habitats under discussion and the number of activities and interests in the mix.
The uninhabitated offshore islands of the Sub-Antarctics, thereby away from the NIMBY (not in my back yard) syndrome, should be a breeze. However neally a year has gone by and so far we have no results.
The forums are inteneded to bring together a spectrum of stakeholders - great! But how balanced are they? Who is representing the science and species themselves? And are we really going to get results that the community as a whole supports?
I hope so, but……
Whilst the MPA Policy encourages MPA planning under the forums, community and group applications for marine reserves ARE still open.
Where we are waiting for forums to establish or are faced with inefficient forums, I say we keep our options open and work together and start the talking and planning NOW.
How and when do we start?
I believe an exceptional site for a marine reserve in the Hawke Bay would be from Stingray Bay to Waipatiki Beach. It has a great walking track and potential for much more (such as the American land owner who has planted hundreds of native trees around part of that coast line). Where’s the best place to voice this idea?
Colin - and others - let’s start NOW. Colin you are already on our Marine Protected Areas e-mail forum. If others wish to join in and share idea / information, please contact me direct at : k.knowles@forestandbird.org.nz
Those people who are in or around Wellington, you can also join us at our ‘Blue Wellington’ evenings held at the Southern Cross pub. Contact me for more information or check out the Wellington branch page on the F&B site.
Chris - please contact me re. your marine reserve idea: k.knowles@forestandbird.org.nz. I also suggest you contact your local Forest & Bird branch. After an intial information share, we can then assist you to take the next steps.