Smith widening safety net around marine life

Nick Smith hails an historic day for conservation, Michael Fox reports. New legislation governing the creation of marine protected areas is likely be introduced before the end of the year, Conservation Minister Nick Smith has revealed.

Dr Smith says the 40-year-old Marine Reserves Act is too prescriptive and blunt and inhibiting efforts to expand marine protection areas in New Zealand.

It comes as Dr Smith opened New Zealand’s largest marine reserves yesterday, creating a 435,000 hectare notake zone around the Antipodes, Bounty and Campbell Islands in the Southern Ocean.

The sub-Antarctic islands are a breeding ground for endangered southern right whales, sea lions, fur seals, and about 10 per cent of the world’s sea birds, including the Southern Royal Albatross.

‘‘There’s just so much down here that’s special that New Zealand should say yep, we’re going to protect these Chilly buoy: Steve Knowles releases a meteorological buoy in the Southern Ocean. permanently,’’ Dr Smith said.

The special legislation, passed earlier this month, creates no-take zones in chunks of the territorial sea – out to 12 nautical miles from shore – and empowers the Navy to enforce the law.

Dr Smith said it was a ‘‘hugely historic day for conservation’’.

The protected areas, between 700km and 860km from the mainland, were among the most pristine in the world. The new law was about keeping them that way.

‘‘Marine reserve status means there can be no fishing, no mining, no petroleum exploration and no marine farming in these waters,’’ he said.

The islands have had UN world heritage status since 1998, and protecting large swathes of the water around them meant there was ‘‘complete ecosystem protection,’’ he said.

The three new reserves took the number to 37 nationwide. However, the area coming under protection was thirteen times larger than the total area of all the reserves around the rest of the country.

The fishing industry has three years to prove there is a viable crab fishery around Campbell Island.

Longline fishing will continue around the Bounty Islands, though an existing prohibition on dredging and bottom trawling will remain.

Conservationists and opposition MPs are critical of this, with Green Party conservation spokesman Gareth Hughes labelling the minister’s trip as ‘‘green wash’’.

‘‘Nick Smith is trying to trumpet his conservation credentials but when you look at the track record, when you look at the actual risks this government is putting our environment through, no one should think the Government is taking a strong conservation position.’’

Bronwen Golder, director of the Kermadec Initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts Global Ocean Legacy programme said it was not enough.

The 12nm protections were ‘‘nice to have but the fact they’re not together is ridiculous’’. ‘‘We’ve protected three little dots in the ocean and nothing else.’’

The Government should be creating reserves where species could swim between islands and still be protected.

It’s official: