Fears for our feathered friends
Most NZ seabirds at risk of extinction
Ninety per cent of New Zealand’s seabirds are at risk of extinction, as ‘‘serious pressures’’ threaten the future of New Zealand’s oceans.
The Our Marine Environment 2016 report, released on Thursday by Statistics NZ and the Ministry for the Environment, found that New Zealand had the highest number of threatened seabird species in the world.
More than a quarter of marine mammals were also at risk.
It was due to a degraded environment, the report said. Global warming and polluted coastlines were among the causes.
‘‘We’re a maritime nation. Having healthy and resilient oceans is important for all New Zealanders and for our economy,’’ government statistician Liz MacPherson said.
‘‘Today’s marine environment report shows that our marine environment is facing a number of serious challenges.’’
Of particular concern was the threat to marine species: almost all of the country’s 92 seabird species were at risk of extinction. Half of the 12 most threatened species of seabird had been declining since 2008. None were improving.
Increasing acidification of the oceans, caused by rising temperatures, would affect shell species such as plankton, the report said. That had a flow-on effect for the rest of the food chain.
‘‘The future of our marine birds and mammals, most of which are at or near the top of the food chain, is of international interest and has importance for global biodiversity.
‘‘The extinction of these species may have consequential impacts on other species and the resilience of ecosystems.’’
Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith said: ‘‘We are committed to addressing these challenges.’’
New laws on marine reserves is due before Parliament next year which ‘‘will bring our marine legislation into the 21st century, recognising that we need varying levels of protection’’.
Green Party co-leader James Shaw said the report painted an alarming picture of our marine environment.
‘‘I hadn’t realised how dire it was. This demonstrates what happens when you have a Government that has this ‘grow the economy at any cost’ model, when that cost is our environment.’’
‘‘On the one hand we’re reducing bycatch, but on the other we’re acidifying the oceans, and I think frankly the policy has been irresponsible.’’
Marine protected areas should be an urgent priority, and Shaw said the Government had been handed recommendations that these be extended out from the current 12 nautical mile limit to 200 nautical miles – or the exclusive economic zone.
The report looked at the impact of fishing practices on vulnerable species, particularly bycatches, when an animal is inadvertently caught and killed in a fishing net.
However, Secretary for the Environment Vicky Robertson said the number of bycatches had decreased.
‘‘The number of seabirds caught by commercial fishing bycatch almost halved from around 9000 in 2003 to 5000 in 2013.’’ It remains a major cause of death for several species, the report said.
A key example was the Salvin’s albatross, seen on the South Island’s coast.
Despite being nationally critical hundreds were being killed each year in fishing nets.
In 2014, 623 Salvin’s albatross were killed in fishing nets.
It was also a problem for marine mammals, such as the critically threatened New Zealand sea lion. It is one of the world’s rarest seal species and found only in New Zealand, but dozens each year are killed in fishing nets.
It is also forced to compete with commercial fisheries, which had contributed to its decline, the report said.
Damaging fishing methods such as trawling had also decreased, but still had a substantial effect on the marine environment, the report said.
Seafood NZ chief executive Tim Pankhurst said the industry’s efforts to reduce its impact are paying off. ‘‘The report notes that the drop is likely due in part to mitigation measures, such as birdscaring devices on fishing vessels.’’
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) NZ said the report painted a worrying picture of the state of New Zealand’s oceans.
‘‘This report gives a stark warning and should serve as a wake-up call on the need for action to ensure ecosystems are not further degraded and species are not driven further towards extinction,’’ campaigns head Peter Hardstaff said.
Creating a network of protected marine areas is an essential part of addressing the problem, he said.
The fragility of the marine environment would affect New Zealand’ $4 billion marine economy in future, as well as recreational opportunities for all New Zealanders, the report said.
The sector provided more than 100,000 jobs.
One day, just for a change, it would be nice to get some good news about New Zealand’s environment.
Instead, the catalogue of our environmental misery keeps getting thicker. The latest blows are contained in the Our Marine Environment 2016 report out yesterday, a joint effort by staff of the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand.
The cover of the report is deceptively tranquil – a sperm whale is about to slice its tail down into the deep, blue briny of the Pacific Ocean with the snow-covered Seaward Kaikoura Range in the background. Inside, however, the message is nowhere near as serene. The contents paint an awful, scary picture.
Put succinctly, our activities are wrecking the marine environment and not enough is being done to halt or reverse that. While the John Key Government has to take a lot of the blame for ignoring increasingly clear signals of decline during its time in office, this is something that we are all, ultimately, responsible for. And it is something that we all have to do something about.
Possibly the most alarming finding is that most of our seabirds – 90 per cent of them – are threatened with or at risk of extinction. That includes albatrosses, herons and penguins. And more than a quarter of all marine mammals, such as dolphins, whales and sea lions, are also threatened with extinction.
A second major finding is that greenhouse-gas emissions from climate change around the world are escalating the acidification of the oceans. This is jeopardising marine organisms with carbonate shells, including paua, mussels and oysters, and possibly also affecting the routes of ocean currents and, by doing so, modifying habitats.
The third big issue is the extent to which we are degrading coastal marine habitats by our behaviours and practices. The report says the interaction of excess nutrients draining from our dirty rivers and waterways, the rising number of marine pests, seabed trawling for fish and shellfish, land reclamation and pollution from plastics are wrecking our coast.
What may stop many in their tracks is the conclusion that the enjoyment we have had from being by, and in, the sea may not be shared by future generations.
Even a smidgen of better news – that the bycatch of hector’s and maui dolphins has dropped in the past decade – is not necessarily positive. As a University of Otago expert, Professor Liz Slooten, points out, there is a very low level of observer coverage, which means it is unclear if the number killed in fishing nets is actually changing.
These latest bad tidings come, as Evelyn Waugh put it, like ‘‘a blow, expected, repeated, falling on a bruise, with no smart or shock of surprise’’. It is more of the same gloom, more of the same unpalatable facts that show we are making a monumental mess of things.
We can but hope copies of this report find their way on to the bedside tables of Prime Minister Key and Environment Minister Nick Smith for some night-time reading. And, even if they do decide to act, it needs the efforts of us all to try to turn things around.
Our environment is in crisis. This is time for some truly visionary green leadership. But is that something this Government is capable of?