Sounds’ seabed ‘needs protection now’
Ecologically significant seabeds in the Marlborough Sounds will continue to be lost without protection, a marine ecologist says.
Rob Davidson said Marlborough had a poor record of protection and often there were excuses to do nothing.
‘‘One excuse is that it will cost money and cost the economy, that charter boat operators and tourism would suffer.
‘‘Most significant marine sites need protection now. Without protection they will continue to be degraded or lost.
‘‘We have more to gain than we have to lose from protecting these sites.’’
The council was ‘‘inspirational’’ in introducing a rule in the proposed Marlborough Environment Plan that banned bottomtrawling and dredging at significant sites, Davidson told the council’s environment committee on Thursday.
‘‘The difficulty of protection in the marine environment is that it polarises people. If done the right way it can benefit commercial fisherman.’’
Ecologically significant sites contained fragile biogenic, or ‘‘living habitats’’, which formed threedimensional structures on the seabed, which support fish such as blue cod and snapper.
Environmental monitoring of 15 ecologically significant marine sites at Croisilles Harbour and southern and eastern d’Urville Island, found sites in the area had overall declined in size by 214.6 hectares in four years.
The change was not down to sedimentation, trawling and dredging but because of more accurate data which adjusted the boundaries around significant sites, Davidson said.
But these sites were still sensitive to dredging, bottom-trawling and anchoring and needed protection, he said.
Significant marine sites were relatively old and slow growing and once lost took a long time to recover.
In 2011, 129 ecologically significant marine sites, including estuaries and seabed habitats, were identified by an expert panel led by Davidson, for the council and the Department of Conservation.
A 2015 report by Davidson and fellow marine ecologist Laura Richards found an area the size of Blenheim and its suburbs had disappeared from significant marine sites due to sedimentation, trawling and dredging.