Research and monitoring in Taputeranga Marine Reserve

Monitoring 

A baseline study carried out by scientists at Victoria University of Wellington from 1998 to 2000 recorded the species present in the planned marine reserve area before it was created in 2008.

Once the marine reserve was established, surveys at three sites inside and five sites outside the marine reserve recorded the number and size of fish, pāua, kina (sea urchin) and rock lobster (crayfish/kōura). A map of the monitoring sites is below.

The surveys were carried out each summer from 2009 to 2013. Fish were surveyed again in 2015 and 2016. Records of all the fish species encountered (33 different species) were made, but because many species were rare, analyses concentrated on the following eight common species: blue cod, red and blue moki, banded wrasse, butterfish, spotty, terakihi and trevally.

Diver monitoring Taputeranga Marine Reserve
Image: DOC

These studies have created a valuable New Zealand data set to compare the changes in a marine environment following protection.

A strong collaboration between DOC and Victoria University of Wellington supports ongoing monitoring of the marine reserve. Many other research programmes are carried out in the marine reserve by university staff and students.

This marine reserve report card presents a status and trend for blue cod, rock lobster and butterfish, based on available data. Other species may be included in future versions of the report card.

Monitoring programme review

A 2014 review of this monitoring programme recommended several changes to ensure consistency in the results. One was to sample species in blocks of years and combine the data: eg. survey fish annually from 2015 to 2017 and invertebrates from 2018 to 2020. Other recommendations were to increase the number of sampling sites and monitor the spread of the invasive seaweed Undaria pinnatifida.

Communicating the monitoring results to the public and managing the data were also noted as priorities, given the high interest shown by the Wellington community in the marine reserve.

Monitoring sites

Regular monitoring sites inside and outside Taputeranga Marine Reserve are shown below.

Taputeranga Marine Reserve monitoring sites

Research

Selected publications related to Taputeranga marine reserve:

• Positive effects of full no-take protection on rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) populations in two central New Zealand marine reserves. Rojas-Nazar et al, 2017. Unpublished data, manuscript in submission.
• Wellington Water Ltd: Stage one global stormwater discharge consent. Resource consent application and assessment of environmental effects. Prepared by GHD for Wellington Water Ltd, July 2017.
• Examining the ecological complexities of blackfoot paua demography and habitat requirements in the scope of marine reserve protection. Laferriere PhD thesis, 2016. 
• Marine reserve establishment and on-going management costs: a case study from New Zealand. Rojas-Nazar et al, 2015.
• Audit of DOC subtidal fish and invertebrate monitoring, Taputeranga Marine Reserve, 2014 (PDF, 5746K). Zintzen, 2014. 
• Effects of marine reserve protection on adjacent non-protected populations in New Zealand. Diaz Guisado PhD thesis, 2014.
• Designing accurate and effective means for marine ecosystem monitoring incorporating species distribution assessments. Jones PhD thesis, 2014.
• Lobsters as keystone: only in unfished ecosystems? Eddy et al, 2014.
• Marine high risk site surveillance, annual report for all ports and marinas 2014–15.
• Economic, social and biological attributes of two marine reserves within New Zealand. Rojas Nazar PhD thesis 2013.
• Assessing ecological patterns in Wellington south coast's nearshore rocky-reef communities for resource conservation and management. Byfield PhD thesis, 2013. 
• Capacity Infrastructure Services Ltd. 2012. Stormwater discharge consent annual report: Resource consents WGN090219 [27418], [27419], [30500] & [30501]. Unpublished report prepared for Wellington City Council.
• Ecological effects of Undaria pinnatifida (Harvey) Suringar and nutrient-enrichment on intertidal assemblages in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Morelissen PhD thesis 2012. 
• Marine reserves as conservation and management tools: implications for coastal resource use. Eddy PhD thesis, 2011. 
• A baseline biological survey of the proposed Taputeranga Marine Reserve (Wellington, New Zealand): spatial and temporal variability along a natural environmental gradient. Pande and Gardner, 2009. 
• The Taputeranga Marine Reserve by Jonathan Gardner 2008. First Edition Publishers, Wellington, New Zealand. Available from the editor jonathan.gardner@vuw.ac.nz.
• A status report on the biological and physical information for Wellington’s south coast with monitoring recommendations for the Taputeranga Marine Reserve. Eddy et al, 2008. 
• Stormwater contaminants in the urban streams in the Wellington regio (PDF, 845K). Milne and Watts 2008.
• Evaluating biological change in New Zealand marine reserves. Pande PhD thesis 2001.
• Greater Wellington Regional Council’s annual data reports.