Bay of Islands Maritime Park Inc

Why was Akaroa declined?

Akaroa Marine Reserve
Why has the Minister of Conservation declined this application?

Fish Forever is appalled by the Minister of Conservation’s decision to decline the application for the Akaroa Marine Reserve submitted by the Akaroa Harbour Marine Protection Society 14 years ago. We plan to support the society in raising the profile of this case so that this decision is reviewed at the highest level. We want to know how the decision to decline this application was reached.

We have read the Minister’s letter to the applicants and we believe that the reasoning behind the decision to uphold the objection under section d) Recreational Purposes is unsound. The Minister’s observation that it is “unclear” whether the benefits of a marine reserve will outweigh the detriment caused to recreational fishers is insufficient justification to uphold that objection. We think a Minister of Conservation should err on the side of environmental protection rather than encourage further depletion.

For the sake of marine biodiversity and for the sake of our local campaign to achieve a higher level of marine protection within the Bay of Islands, we will support the applicants in their fight to have this decision challenged and overturned.

One bad decision by a conservation minister cannot be allowed to undermine future marine protection.

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Fish Forever is a community group working under the Bay of Islands Maritime Park Inc Soc campaigning for a network of no-take marine sanctuaries in the Bay of Islands.

For further info:
www.marinereserve.co.nz
info@marinereserve.co.nz

BayCare and Fish Forever meet this Thursday

See below agendas for BayCare and Fish Forever.

AND….

Fish Forever
Thursday 26th 6pm,
Island Life Restaurant & Bar, Paihia

1. Updates on current and planned activities*

i) Whangarei Marine Workshop Summary (Julie and team)
ii) Hapu consultation update (Dean/Jeremy and team)
iii) Community/adults EMR concept (Jochen/Helen)
iv) Fish Forever/EMR stall at Paihia’s “it” festival (Julie/Helen)
v) Website EOI
vi) Funding strategy development (Lily/Catherine)
vii) Toolkit development (Catherine/Dean)
viii) Tshirts

2. Review past 12 months: where we’ve come from and where we are going

i) What was our original ‘mandate’?
ii) How has this developed and what have we achieved?
iii) What should be the focus of the next 12 months? Should it include fisheries management initiatives alongside ongoing community consultation? Should we review our original motion to put in a MR application in this year? How does declined Akaroa MR Application affect us? Should we be setting up a liaison team for recreational fishermen?
Background reading:
http://www.marinereserve.co.nz/?p=81
http://www.marinereserve.co.nz/?p=56

3. Any other general business.

- Conservation week
- Roger Grace announcement re Whangateau HarbourCare Group  photo exhibition “Eyes on Whangateau Harbour”

Disappointment in Akaroa

UPDATED POST — Sharing New Zealand Underwater Association Inc’s media statement.

23 August 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Unusual Stance for Minister of Conservation

For The Minister of Conservation to decline an application for a marine reserve because it conflicted with fishing is akin to claiming that the government shouldn’t create national parks because they conflict with the interests of mining. The application lodged by the Akaroa Harbour Marine Protection Society in Jan 1996 was declined last week and this outcome in 2010 is a massive blow to their vision and 14 years of hard work. These comments came today from The New Zealand Underwater Associations’ marine biologist, Peter Crabb.

Under The Biodiversity Strategy 2000, the New Zealand government committed to creating 10 % of New Zealand waters to be in marine protected areas by 2010 and to decline this application in The Year of Biological Diversity is a failure to acknowledge this commitment or embrace the concept, Crabb Says.  Further to this, The Minister of Conservation decided to decline this application on the grounds of recreational and customary fishing, a right of veto more appropriately designated for The Minister of Fisheries and this sets a very worrying precedent.

Only those areas created under The Marine Reserves Act 1972 can become part of the conservation estate and under the control of The Department of Conservation.  While there is around 30 % of New Zealand’s land area in national parks and reserves, there is less than 1% of our marine area in reserve. This leaves most of the sea around NZ open to threats to our unique marine biodiversity, the main one being fishing and down the list are: introduced species, pollution and global warming.

Crabb points out with the majority of our marine waters open to fishing; it is always the fishers who object most strongly to any measures of protection since they feel it affects them more than anyone else. Fishers who feel they have a right to fish more than 99% of NZ coastal area do not recognize the same right for others to have equal and similar levels of protection. The few marine reserves that have been created have all endured opposition from fishers. For a minister of the crown entity charged with guardianship of the conservation estate to succumb to the pressure of one extractive stake holder is odd, short sighted and fails basic conservation principals. Without marine reserves, the long term sustainability of any fishing, let alone the viability of New Zealand’s marine biodiversity is doubtful. Marine reserves function not only as insurance policies against overfishing, but enhance fish populations, restore ecological balance and provide the only sanctuaries for large old individuals which we know perform important functions.

In nearly all of NZ’s commercial fisheries, quota reductions are necessary and many fisheries are managed on a knife edge near collapse as fish sizes get smaller and it becomes harder to catch the numbers of fish they used to, Crabb says. In addition it now appears from the research of Dr Steve O’Shea that our whales, dolphins and seals are starving and throwing themselves onto the beaches with worn teeth and ulcerated stomachs, such is the impact of overfishing on these large important species.

The non sustainable exploitation of our native fish stocks provides short term gain for the few and long term environmental harm for everyone, just like mining. That a small impoverished and long-suffering community group recognises that bits of the marine environment needs protection while The Minister of Conservation feels fishing takes precedence, is yet another worrying signal from this government about their views on the integrity of our unique biodiversity whether it’s on land or in the sea, Crabb Says.

New Zealand Underwater Association Inc.

1/40 Mt Eden Road, Mt Eden

PO Box 875, Auckland

Media Release

Contact: Peter Crabb

Phone: 09 623 3252

Mobile: 021 300 653

peter@nzunderwater.org.nz

-Ends-

Pete Crabb

Communications Manager/Biologist

New Zealand Underwater

1/40 Mt Eden Road Eden, Terrace Auckland 1024

P.O. Box 875 Auckland 1140

+64 21 300 653 Mob

+64 9 623 3252 Land

www.nzunderwater.org.nz

ORIGINAL POST –

We’re disappointed to hear that the Akaroa marine reserve application has been declined. Press release available here. see Forest & Bird’s comment and news online at www.stuff.co.nz. We will be looking closely at this outcome and learning from it to ensure that whichever form the Fish Forever marine protection project takes, our consultation process addresses all potential hurdles right at the outset and is regarded as a project beneficial to us all.

Tragedy comes to our own beaches

Just over a week ago we posted Deep Trouble: are we starving our whales? We should ask that question again in the light of this tragic mass stranding on one of our own Northland beaches.

From the NZ Herald yesterday:

Attempts to refloat the surviving 15 whales stranded at Karikari Beach have been unsuccessful and rescue workers have called off their efforts till first light tomorrow. Department of Conservation spokesperson Mike Davies says a skeleton crew will monitor the whales over night and DOC will try to move the whales to another beach in the morning to refloat them.

“At first light we’re looking at making an attempt to transport the remaining whales across about 1km of road to a neighbouring bay on the other side of the peninsula with a view to re-float them there in better weather conditions,” Mr Davies told Radio New Zealand.

Mr Davies said that while the surviving whales are currently coping, the key issue is how they fare during the night. Nearly 60 of the pilot whales are dead after a pod of 73 were found on the beach. The Department of Conservation in Kaitaia received a call about 10.30am advising of a mass whale stranding.

Carolyn Smith, community relations programme manager for DOC in Kaitaia, said the whales had probably stranded during the night, and that was why so many perished before being discovered. The Far North was experiencing heavy rain and wind, which was both a help and a hindrance; the whales would not dry out but it made conditions difficult for rescuers, Ms Smith said.

At up to 1500kg each in weight, it will take at least five people to work with each animal.Kimberly Muncaster, chief executive of Project Jonah, told NZPA 15 whales were still alive but were in a “fairly poor condition.”

“If the animals are too sick, it might be (necessary) to euthanase,” she said.”The communications on the ground are very bad. It’s quite difficult to get communications back and forth. But DOC are on the ground, together with volunteers from Far North Whale Rescue.

“Project Jonah volunteers are on standby, and we might need to mobilise them at first light, just to act as fresh volunteers,” Ms Muncaster said. Ms Muncaster heard about the stranding at 11am today. Ms Smith said that because of the delicate physiology of marine mammals, and the risks associated with refloating them, it was important the teams working with DOC were adequately trained. “We’re very grateful to the Far North Whale Rescue, who run free training workshops for people who want to be involved in whale strandings,” Ms Smith said. Another task facing staff would be the disposal of the deceased whales. DOC was working with local iwi, Ngati Kahu, on appropriate ways to do this.

Put your house in order!

Britain and other countries face a collapse of their economies and loss of culture if they do not protect the environment better, the world’s leading champion of nature has warned.

“What we are seeing today is a total disaster,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, the secretary-general of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. “No country has met its targets to protect nature. We are losing biodiversityat an unprecedented rate. If current levels [of destruction] go on we will reach a tipping point very soon. The future of the planet now depends on governments taking action in the next few years.”

Industrialisation, population growth, the spread of cities and farms and climate change are all now threatening the fundamentals of life itself, said Djoghlaf, in London before a key UN meeting where governments are expected to sign up to a more ambitious agreement to protect nature.

“Many plans were developed in the 1990s to protect biodiversity but they are still sitting on the shelves of ministries. Countries were legally obliged to act, but only 140 have even submitted plans and only 16 have revised their plans since 1993. Governments must now put their houses in order,” he said.

For full article go to the Guardian website or listen to audio