Blue whale sanctuary awaits appeal outcome

A marine sanctuary off the South Taranaki coast remains a priority for the Green Party, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says.

‘‘One of the goals in the Green Party’s confidence and supply agreement with Labour was to look at establishing a Taranaki blue whale sanctuary,’’ Sage said.

The agreement included safeguarding the healthy functioning of marine ecosystems and promoting abundant fisheries, as well as working alongside Mãori to establish the Kermadec/ Rangita¯ hua Ocean Sanctuary.

‘‘I have asked the Department of Conservation for advice on how best to establish a marine mammal sanctuary given the significance of the South Taranaki area as feeding habitat for blue whales and other marine mammals,’’ Sage said.

The party’s election policy proposed creating a 30,000 square kilometre marine sanctuary off the South Taranaki Bight, the largest proposed around the New Zealand coastline, to protect blue whales from sea bed mining planned in the area.

The sanctuary was intended to protect marine mammals from the effects of oil and gas exploration, such as the intense underwater noise from seismic surveys, by providing an area free from seabed mining and new petroleum and mineral prospecting, or extraction, Sage said.

‘‘The investigation will focus on this, rather than the impacts of recreational, or commercial fishing on marine mammals.’’

It would be implemented under the Marine Mammals Protection Act and involve public consultation.

In August the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), in a split decision, granted Trans Tasman Resources permission to dredge 50 million tonnes of iron sand over 35 years from the South Taranaki Bight.

The vote was split evenly between the four EPA decision making committee members with chairman Alick Shaw giving the casting vote to proceed with the application.

An appeal on the decision by environmental and iwi groups to the High Court will be held in April in Wellington.

Sage said it would be inappropriate to comment on whether the sanctuary would go ahead if the appeal failed.

TTR plan to mine 66 square kilometres of the sea bed, between 22km and 36km off the coastline.

The company claim the operation would have little environmental effect.

Under the conditions of the resource consent the company must monitor the area for two years before it began mining.

The mining area represented 3.5 per cent of the blue whale feeding area, or 700 sqkm out of a total of 20,000 sqkm habitat area, the EPA report said.

A total of 336 blue whales have been seen between Cape Egmont and Farewell Spit in depths of 60m between 2002-2016.

The nearest blue whale sighting was seen 14km from the planned mining site at a depth of 85m, the report said.

Whale expert Leigh Torres said marine mammals would avoid noisy environments and as a result lose the ability to forage for food.

Ngati Ruanui spokeswoman Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the iwi supported the sanctuary proposal.