Hauraki Gulf Marine Park: an integrated approach
The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park covers 1.2 million hectares of sea, including the Hauraki Gulf, Waitemata Harbour, Firth of Thames and east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. Within its boundaries are five marine reserves and the internationally recognised wetland at Miranda in the Firth of Thames.
The park was established by special legislation in February 2000. With the aim of improving the environmental management of the Gulf, the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act establishes management objectives for the Gulf and its islands and catchments.
Two themes underpinning the Act are the importance of integrated management across land and sea, and the significance of the relationships between people, specifically local iwi, and the natural resources of the Gulf.
Management principles in the Act acknowledge the interrelationships between the Gulf’s marine areas, catchments which drain into it, and the islands it contains, as well as the ability of these interrelated elements to sustain the life-supporting capacity of the environment.
The Gulf’s second state of environment report, Hauraki Gulf State of the Environment Report 2008, documents mixed progress in protecting the resources of the park. Areas of concern include the accumulation of heavy metals in Auckland’s upper harbours, large amounts of nitrogen entering the Firth of Thames from dairy sources, and the build up of contaminants in the Gulf from past and present land development.
The report also documents the ecological recovery occurring on many of the islands and coastal reserves of the Gulf, largely because of predator control and voluntary efforts to restore key habitats.
Further information is available at www.haurakigulfforum.org.nz
Source: Department of Conservation.
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Last updated: December 2008
