NZ subantarctic scientists get cold shoulder amid cuts
As talks are due to start on a global oceans treaty, New Zealand cuts back marine science programme and shelves $3m research centre. reports.
New Zealand’s subantarctic islands are viewed as the jewels in the crown of the country’s conservation management.
But a stretched budget and the pandemic has forced the Department of Conservation (DOC) to cut back its summer science programme for the third year in a row.
Some research on New Zealand sea lions, or ra¯ poka, one of the world’s rarest, will not go ahead. And limits on funding have left other scientists scrambling to find ways to continue their work programme.
The Sunday Star-Times can also reveal plans for a new $3 million research centre, previously touted as important to climate change research, have also been mothballed.
It comes as the Government faces pressure to do more to protect New Zealand’s vast ocean territory.
International talks will take place in March to try to agree on a UN Global Oceans Treaty. It is hoped that will ensure the protection of at least 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030. Many scientists believe this is necessary for the ocean to continue its role as climate stabiliser, food basket and home to marine life.
On Wednesday, Greenpeace will take a petition to Parliament, signed by 60,000, demanding New Zealand take a more ambitious position in the negotiations.
An accompanying letter to Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta says: ‘‘We are concerned the New Zealand delegation is not currently taking a strong enough position in these negotiations that would effectively protect the global oceans for the future.’’
DOC’s aquatic director Elizabeth Heeg confirmed the reduced work programme. ‘‘Some of DOC’s proposed subantarctic field season hasn’t gone ahead in the 2021-22 research season as a result of budget reprioritisation.
‘‘This is due in part to the impact of Covid on revenue and rising cost pressures. The postponed work was primarily part (not all) of the marine-related subantarctic research.’’
Work to monitor sea lions at Campbell Island, 700km south of the South Island, was halted.
There are only around 12,000 sea lions left and they are under severe threat from disease, accidental death as fisheries by-catch, and habitat change caused by fishing.
Campbell Island is home to the second-largest breeding colony, but it is exposed to wild weather, and experts worried about pup mortality had developed shelters but they won’t be trialled this season.
Some work took place in the Auckland Islands group, including pup counts, tagging and monitoring. ‘‘We also undertook a cursory assessment of pup
‘‘It is expensive. But if we want to know what is happening with fish distributions and prey availability, a problem in the past, having that monitoring from year to year is absolutely critical.’’ Eugenie Sage
mortalities. There were no signs of mass mortality and pup numbers were in line with previous seasons. There is a full report being prepared,’’ Heeg said.
But the research was limited to what could be funded from the Conservation Services Levy, paid for by fees collected from the commercial fishing industry.
World-renowned research on the endangered antipodean albatross will go ahead after DOC struck a deal to share costs with a BBC television crew working on an upcoming documentary to be narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Monitoring of northern giant and whitechinned petrels is also taking place on the Antipodes.
And Operation Endurance, a bi-annual expedition with the navy and the MetService is planned for March ‘‘subject to vessel availability’’. That would allow rangers to do boardwalk and track maintenance, monitoring of weeds and pest detection.
It is also hoped a team will get to the Snares Island group to research the Buller’s albatross.
A plan to eradicate pests from the Auckland Islands was put on hold in 2020. But a team will trial cat bait there later in February in the hope the proposal can be revived.
New Zealand has jurisdiction over five uninhabited island groups, strewn across a 700kmwide semi-circle in the doughnut of the Southern Ocean. They are collectively designated as a World Heritage Site and are protected as National Nature Reserves.
The islands are among the most pristine in the world, with few introduced plants or predators. As a result they are regarded as good barometers of change brought about by human activities, such as climate change or overfishing.
In 2014, the then-National government announced plans for a subantarctic research station on the east coast of the Auckland Islands. It was to be named after the later Sir Peter Blake, the celebrated yachtsman.
It was hoped the station would help scientists gain a better understanding of the likely impact of climate change. A consortium proposing the station included Niwa, the New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute, and the Universities of Otago and Victoria.
But DOC, which has responsibility as the designated local authority, has never received an
application for a nature reserve permit, or resource consent and building consent.
Former conservation minister Eugenie Sage points out that there is a huge gap between research into oceans and fisheries, compared with on land. She says monitoring of sea lions is vital given warming sea temperatures.
‘‘They are really threatened. The Campbell Island population is one third of the pups so DOC should not be re-prioritising. It should have done the work.
‘‘It is expensive. But if we want to know what is happening with fish distributions and prey availability, a problem in the past, having that monitoring from year to year is absolutely critical.’’
Rick Zwaan, Forest & Bird’s Otago Southand regional conservation manager, said the reduction was ‘‘concerning’’ given the islands are a hotspot for wildlife, including over 40 seabirds, sea lions, seals and whales.
Ongoing research work and predator control is ‘‘critical’’ to ensure those populations thrive, he said.
‘‘Yet, like many areas of DOC, this work is facing increasing pressure and reliance on the good will of volunteers and commercial operators rather than the Government stepping up to properly fund it. Budget 2022 is an opportunity to fix that.
‘‘Despite the funding cuts, it is good to see that DOC has managed to get researchers and rangers down to the remote islands this year after Covid disrupted important work in previous years.’’