Speeches

Progress on marine protection

Chris Carter

03.02.2004

Speech to the ECO Conference, 27 June 2003, Auckland.

Speech to the ECO Conference, 27 June 2003, Auckland

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be here today and thank you for the opportunity to talk to you.

Can I say right off the block that the support some of you have offered me publicly on a number of issues, such as the Dobson Dam, has been well timed and enormously helpful.

It has made my transition into the job of Conservation Minister that much easier.

As I have been telling environmental groups around the country, I have rapidly realised it is not the size of opposition to conservation initiatives that is important but the strength of support.

It warms my heart to hear groups like yourselves sticking up for future generations who otherwise have no voice.

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for it.

If I am slurring my words today it is because I am still a little jet-lagged.

I have been back in the country for only four days after leading New Zealand's delegation to the International Whaling Commission in Berlin.

It was the first time I had attended an IWC meeting and the first time for New Zealand's new whaling commissioner Sir Geoffrey Palmer as well.

Both of us found it an eye-opener - diplomatic niceties have no place in the whaling debate.

However, I am delighted to report that pro-conservation countries left the IWC this year with a trophy – the Berlin Initiative.

Proposed by Mexico and co-sponsored by New Zealand, the initiative will set up a conservation committee at the IWC that should help refocus the commission back on to whale preservation instead of looking both ways as it does at present.

Pro-whaling nations led by Japan were determined to sink the proposal and they almost did.

When I arrived in Berlin the situation looked decidedly bleak. Three new countries were tipped to join the Commission in the pro-whaling camp – Nicaragua, Belize and the Ivory Coast.

Their numbers would have tipped the simple majority on the IWC in favour of whaling. But it wasn't to be.

Nicaragua was the only one of the three that managed to complete the IWC's membership formalities in time to vote in the meeting. That, combined with intensive lobbying of middle ground countries in the commission, carried the day for conservation.

The reason I am telling you about this is because it is my hope that the success of the Berlin Initiative at the IWC will underscore real progress in marine protection back here in New Zealand this year.

It is an area that I am spending a great deal of time on, and I want to spend a few minutes outlining for you where things have got to.

New Zealand's record on marine protection is not fantastic. We have 18 marine reserves in our territorial waters but they protect just a tiny fraction of our marine area.

If you took all of the reserves around mainland New Zealand, namely the North and South Islands, and added them together they would equate to a bit over half our smallest national park on land.

That is despite the ocean New Zealand controls being fifteen times larger than its land area, and despite almost a third of its indigenous species living in the ocean.

I'm aware that there is a view among some of your membership that the Department of Conservation has been constantly outflanked on marine protection in the past.

It is something that I took a close look at when I became minister and my conclusion was this - many of the impediments to marine protection can only be resolved by arms of government other than DoC.

Marine issues, specifically marine protection, are now the subject of a whole of government approach.

Fisheries Minister Pete Hodgson and myself are working closely together on them, and there is a wider committee of ministers also working through associated issues.

Real progress is occurring.

At the broadest level, a discussion document on the Oceans Policy will go to Cabinet at the end of July.

The Government envisages that this policy will provide clear direction on how to balance the full range of cultural, environmental, economic and social interests in our oceans.

The Oceans Policy will be the holistic framework that sits like an umbrella over policy on more specific marine issues. That second level policy includes aquaculture and marine protection, and is progressing in parallel.

As you know, the Government has set a target of protecting 10 per cent of New Zealand's marine area, including the exclusive economic zone, by 2010.

This target is one of the key goals of the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy. It is also a target that enjoys wide public support. I was greatly encouraged that a greater emphasis on marine protection was one of the priority concerns that emerged from the initial public consultation on the Oceans Policy.

By the end of this month, I hope to receive the first draft of a Marine Protected Areas Strategy that will define for everyone what types of protection are adequate to form part of the 10 per cent goal.

I don't want to pre-empt that strategy but I anticipate certain types of fishing closures, protective rules in coastal plans, and areas set aside in mataitai or taiapure, will be proposed alongside the ideal of marine reserves.

A common question I am asked is how much of the 10 per cent will be marine reserves? My answer is that it is impossible for me to say at this stage.

A clearer picture of where reserves need to go and where lesser forms of protection will suffice will be available from NIWA's marine classification system that is being developed alongside the Marine Protected Areas Strategy.

I expect this system to give us the basis for identifying what types of ecosystems exist in our waters, what are the most vulnerable, what are already protected and what are not.

My expectation is that marine reserves will be the bedrock of the 10 per cent. There is no question that they are the most effective means of preserving marine life. Research shows clear increases in fish size, abundance and egg production in no-catch areas that you don't see in partial catch areas.

For this reason, the Marine Reserves Bill is particularly important. As many of you will know, it is currently before select committee.

The Bill's central component is the ability to create marine reserves in the Exclusive Economic Zone. This is vital to achieving the preservation of a full range of marine habitats, not just coastal ones.

The Bill will significantly reduce the wasteful bureaucracy of the current reserve appraisal process, and eliminate the potential for lengthy delays in decision-making.

It will do this while maintaining a robust, fair and transparent process for deciding on marine reserves.

Naturally, there are different views on aspects of the Bill that need to be worked through, but I am confident we can get it passed into law by early next year.

Even under the present clunky and repetitive statute, marine reserve applications are continuing to progress.

Since becoming Minister I have announced two new reserves at the Auckland Islands and off Te Matuku Bay on Waiheke Island. They should have their legal formalities completed later this year, bringing them into force.

The Auckland Islands reserve will be the second largest in New Zealand, covering 484,00 hectares. It will provide permanent protection for the main calving and breeding grounds of the southern right whale, the Hooker's sealion, and 30 per cent of the world's population of yellow-eyed penguins.

The addition of it and Te Matuku will bring the number of marine reserves in New Zealand to 18, twelve of which have been created in the last 10 years. A further six applications are the subject of active discussion between DoC and the Ministry of Fisheries.

The picture I am trying to paint for you here is one in which all of the pieces are starting fall into place for real and sustained progress on marine protection.

Hold your breath because I think it is going to happen.

Pete Hodgson has already announced fisheries restrictions to conserve Maui's Dolphin, and I am confident that 2003 will also see the arrival of a National Plan of Action on Seabirds.

This plan is aimed at drastically reducing if not actually eliminating the killing of seabirds in New Zealand fisheries. A draft will soon be available for consideration by Pete and myself before being released to stakeholders for their consideration.

If the surprise success at the IWC is anything to go by, 2003 promises to be a memorable year for marine conservation.

Thankyou.

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