Proportion of marine ecosystems protected

Background

This measure relates to indicator 1.6.1 – Ecosystem representation and protection status.

DOC manages two main types of marine areas: marine reserves and marine mammal sanctuaries. Efforts are being made to expand the coverage of marine reserves as part of a marine protected area (MPA) network to ensure representative coverage of New Zealand’s marine habitats and ecosystems, while marine mammal sanctuaries are established to protect New Zealand’s whales, dolphins and seals.

Most of New Zealand’s 14 marine bioregions remain significantly under-represented in marine reserves.

What did we measure?

This measure reports on the area of New Zealand’s marine environment that is within marine reserves and sanctuaries to protect marine mammals. It is assessed in the context of (a) coastal marine biogeographic regions (‘marine bioregions’); and (b) marine areas within the 12 nautical mile territorial limit. It does not include marine areas managed by DOC under other land status types that are not specific to the marine environment (e.g. nature reserves, wildlife reserves and other public conservation land) or MPAs that are not managed by DOC.

What did we find?

New Zealand currently has 44 marine reserves covering approximately 17,698 km², These cover 9.5% of its marine area inside the 12 nautical mile territorial limit (Table 3). Almost all of this area (96.4% or 17,083 km²) lies within 2 of New Zealand’s 14 marine bioregions: the ecologically important marine areas of the offshore Kermadec Islands and Subantarctic Islands. The remaining 3.6% (616 km²) occurs around New Zealand’s mainland coasts. Thus, most marine bioregions remain significantly under-represented in marine reserves (Table 1).
New Zealand currently has eight sanctuaries to protect marine mammals (Table 2 & Figure 1 – Maps). Five sanctuaries around mainland New Zealand have primarily been established to help protect Hector’s and Māui dolphins, while the Auckland Islands sanctuary mainly aims to protect tohorā/southern right whales and rāpoka/New Zealand sea lions. The remaining two sanctuaries have been established near Kaikōura for the protection of whales and a kekeno/New Zealand fur seal breeding colony, respectively.
The West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary and Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary have been significantly extended (Table 2). The Auckland Islands Marine Mammal Sanctuary has been extended to cover terrestrial portion of the Auckland islands.
No new marine reserves were established in 2020/21 (Figure 1)
Developing an effective network of marine protected areas and other tools, including marine and coastal ecosystems of high biodiversity value is a goal under the ANZBS. Several workstreams relating to marine protection were progressed in 2020/21 including Revitalising the Gulf – Government action on the Sea Change Plan; a proposed network of marine protected areas in the south-eastern South Island coastal marine area.

Maps
Tables

Figure 1: Marine reserves and Sanctuaries to protect marine mammals managed by DOC, as at 30 June 2021.

Table 1: Proportion of each of New Zealand’s coastal marine biogeographic regions that is protected within marine reserves.
Bioregional planning	Coastal Biogeographic region	Area of biogeographic region (km²)	Total area of marine reserves (km²)	Proportion of biogeographic region in marine reserves
Carried out	Kermadec Islands	7,675	7,675	100.0%
	West Coast South Island	13,112	174	1.3%
	Fiordland	10,247	104	1.0%
	Subantarctic Islands	11,864	9,408	79.3%
Not yet completed	Three Kings	2,219	0	0.0%
	North Eastern	38,100	85	0.2%
	Eastern North Island	11,621	29	0.2%
	Western North Island	14,572	33	0.2%
	North Cook Strait	13,656	30	0.2%
	South Cook Strait	12,250	39	0.3%
	East Coast South Island	11,081	111	1.0%
	Southern South Island	20,964	11	0.1%
	Chatham Islands	12,125	0	0.0%
	Snares Island	2,142	0	0.0%

Table 2: Sanctuaries to protect marine mammals in New Zealand as at 30 June 2021
Sanctuaries to Protect Marine Mammals	Year gazetted	Area (km²)
Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary	1988	14,302.37
Auckland Islands Marine Mammal Sanctuary	1993	5,628.13
Te Waewae Bay Marine Mammal Sanctuary	2008	348.84
Clifford and Cloudy Bay Marine Mammal Sanctuary	2008	1,396.16
Catlins Coast Marine Mammal Sanctuary	2008	653.88
West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary	2008	20,511.58
Ōhau New Zealand Fur Seal Sanctuary	2014	0.04
Te Rohe o Te Whānau Puha Kaikoura Whale Sanctuary	2014	4,690.55

Table 3: Summary of marine areas managed by DOC as at 30 June 2021.
	Total area (km²)	Percentage of NZ territorial sea
Marine reserves	17,698	9.5%
Sanctuaries to protect marine mammals	47,532	21.5%
Combined coverage of marine reserves and sanctuaries to protect marine mammals	60,068	28.1%

Data quality

This measure complies with the data quality guidelines used in New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting framework.

All area calculations were sourced from DOC’s National Property and Land Information System (NaPALIS). These were based on the spatial boundaries held within Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) Land Online datasets and calculated using the NZTM coordinate system. The Geographical Information System (GIS) area may differ greatly from the legal area stated in the survey office plan, although the boundaries and vertices will be in the same location. This is because the spatial boundaries were digitised from the original record sheets and transformed through multiple projections. They may also change with future transformations.

Glossary of terms

Coastal marine biogeographic regions (or ‘marine bioregions’) are areas that are defined according to patterns of ecological and physical characteristics in the seascape. Biogeographic regions form the basis of MPA nearshore planning in New Zealand.

Marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of sea or ocean. MPAs restrict human activity for conservation purposes, typically to protect natural or cultural resources, but the strict definition of ‘MPA’ can vary. This report addresses only marine reserves and marine mammal sanctuaries, which are the main marine areas managed by DOC.

NaPALIS or National Property and Land Information System is DOC’s GIS system.

Additional resources

Department of Conservation; Ministry of Fisheries 2011: Coastal marine habitats and marine protected areas in the New Zealand territorial sea: a broad scale gap analysis. Department of Conservation & Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington. 50 p. plus appendices.

Ministry of Fisheries; Department of Conservation 2008: Marine protected areas: classification, protection standard and implementation guidelines. Ministry of Fisheries and Department of Conservation, Wellington. 54 p.

NZ Statutes:
Marine Reserves Act 1971:
Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978:
Fiordland (Te Moana o Atawhenua) Marine Management Act 2005
Subantarctic Islands Marine Reserves Act 2014
Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Act 2014