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Oceans Legally protected areas
Marine management tools
One objective of the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy (NZBS) is to develop a network of marine protected areas (MPAs), using both marine reserves and other forms of legal protection, so that it represents the full range of New Zealand’s coastal and marine ecosystems and habitats. The strategy includes a target to protect 10 per cent of New Zealand’s marine environment by 2010.
The 12,792 square kilometres within the territorial sea currently designated as marine reserve equate to 0.31 per cent of the total marine environment (both territorial sea and the Exclusive Economic Zone) under New Zealand’s jurisdiction.
Because the definition of an MPA network has not yet been agreed, nor the full extent of an MPA network mapped, we can only provide a rough estimate of the percentage of New Zealand’s total marine environment protected by both marine reserves and other forms of legal protection as shown in the table below.
Around a third of the New Zealand marine environment (34 per cent) has management restrictions in place. This includes full protection in the form of marine reserves (0.31 per cent), as well as lesser legal protection such as marine mammal sanctuaries, marine parks, benthic protected areas (BPAs) and seamount closures (seamounts are mountains rising from the sea floor that do not extend above sea level). BPAs and seamount closures make up the majority (97 per cent) of this area, equating to around 33 per cent of New Zealand’s total waters.
Existing marine management tools in New Zealand’s waters
| Management tool |
Legislation |
Restrictions |
Area (km2 ) |
NZ waters where tool applies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marine reserves | Marine Reserves Act 1971 | Marine reserves prohibit fishing removal of material, dredging, dumping, construction or any other direct human disturbance. | 12,792 | Territorial sea |
| Marine mammal sanctuaries | Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978 | A range of restrictions depending on each marine mammal sanctuary. These vary from all commercial fishing being prohibited to special fisheries regulations. | 6180 | Territorial sea |
| Marine parks | Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act 2000 and amendment 2001 Fisheries Act 1996 Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area Act 1991 |
A range of restrictions depending on each marine park. These include a variety of fishing restrictions from all commercial fishing being prohibited to special fisheries regulations. | 20,536 | Territorial sea |
| Submarine cables and pipelines protection zones | Submarine Cables and Pipelines Protection Order 1992 | No fishing or anchoring except for ships being used for research by or for the Ministry of Fisheries as long as research is done without directly or indirectly attaching any ship to the seabed. | 1731.8 | Territorial sea and EEZ |
| Mātaitai – closed areas | Fisheries Act 1996 Fisheries (Declaration of Mātaitai Reserve and Appointment of Tangata Kaitiaki/Tiaki) Notice |
In general, commercial fishing is prohibited, amateur regulations apply unless amended by appointed tangata tiaki/kaitiaki who can authorise customary food gathering. | 204 | Territorial sea |
| Taiapure – closed areas | Fisheries Act 1996 Fisheries Order |
A spatial closure to set aside coastal fishing areas which customarily have been of special significance to an iwi or hapū as a source of food (kaimoana) or for spiritual or cultural reasons. | 388 | Territorial sea |
| Section186 – temporary closures | Fisheries Act 1996 Fisheries (Temporary Closure) Notice |
A range of restrictions applies dependent on the particular area. All restrictions prohibit the removal of at least one species. For example, a prohibition to take fish, aquatic life or seaweed from Pukerua Bay, except by the method of line fishing, applies during the period beginning 8 June 2007 and ending 7 June 2009. | 769 | Territorial sea |
| Benthic Protected Areas (BPAs) | Fisheries Act 1996 Fisheries (Benthic Protection Areas) Regulations 2007 |
Prohibition on use of dredge and restrictions on use of trawl net within 100 metres of the seafloor. | 1,250,000 | Territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone |
| Seamount closures | Fisheries Act 1996 Fisheries Regulations |
Trawling prohibited. | 100,997 | Exclusive Economic Zone |
| Total area |
1,393,598 | |||
| Total area as a percentage of New Zealand’s total waters (territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone) |
34 % | |||
Source: Ministry of Fisheries (National Aquatic Biodiversity Information System: NABIS); Department of Conservation.
BPAs (established in 2007), together with 19 existing seamount closures (closed in 2000), include about 88 per cent of all known active hydrothermal vents (hot springs on the ocean floor) and 52 per cent of all known seamounts. BPAs and seamount closures are expected to protect these habitats from deepwater fishing activities where they occur. Many of the BPAs and seamount closures are not presently disturbed by human activity.
BPAs and seamount closures do not, however, fully protect the marine environment and its ecosystems, as marine reserves do. For example, while BPAs prohibit any seabed trawling, dredging, and netting within 100 meters of the seabed; and seamount closures prohibit seabed trawling in any closed seamount area, they are not ‘no-take’ zones in the same way as marine reserves are. The marine environment in BPAs and seamount closures can still be subject to mining and other human activities and disturbances. In BPAs, marine life more than 100 metres above the seabed also remains without protection.
This reaffirms that the extent to which New Zealand achieves the 10 per cent New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy target will depend significantly on what types of legal protection are used in a future MPA network.
For more information refer to the National Aquatic Biodiversity Information System (NABIS) website.
Return to marine areas with legal protection page
Last updated: December 2008
