Marine conservation in New Zealand

Marine conservation in New Zealand lags behind the achievements on land. This is largely because conservation issues in the sea have not been as readily apparent until more recent times. Although the marine environment has not suffered from the same scale of degradation as the terrestrial one, there are many present and potential threats that need to be addressed. Impacts from fishing, aquaculture, species introductions, coastal developments and pollution are briefly reviewed. With one notable exception, remedial measures for these impacts are not well developed. The exception is the establishment of marine reserves in which all marine biota is totally protected. Since the mid 1970s, New Zealand has set up 10 of these marine reserves, eight of them in the past five years. Preliminary research has demonstrated that dramatic changes in the densities, population size structures and behaviours of some large fish and invertebrates can occur, presumably as a result of this protection. This has prompted a realization that marine conservation measures are achievable and desirable. Further initiatives in marine reserves, and in other forms of conservation such as active habitat restoration and species enhancement, can be expected in the years ahead. More basic research needs to be done, however, with the fishing industry in particular devoting more money and effort to evaluating the environmental effects of its fishing activities.