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Environment New Zealand 2007 questions and answers: Key findings - Oceans

Environment New Zealand 2007 publications

What are the key findings on oceans in the report?

In a nutshell

  • Fishing activity under the Quota Management System has reduced in recent years as the allowable catch for some high-value species has reduced. 
  • The level of sustainable fishing has been assessed for around two thirds of the catch.  Of this proportion, 15 percent of fishstocks have been overfished and are now recovering. 
  • Bacterial levels at our beaches appear to have improved over recent years.
  • A number of New Zealand marine species remain threatened and the number of species threatened is increasing.
  • By international standards, a high proportion of our marine area is protected, although most of this is in two offshore island reserves. 

Facts and figures

  • In 2006, the commercial fishing industry caught about 525,000 tonnes of fish in New Zealand waters.
  • Sixty-five per cent of this catch was from assessed fish species (fish species for which there is enough information to scientifically determine the status of the stock). Of these assessed species, 85 per cent have been sustainably fished and 15 per cent are recovering.
  • In 1997, 10 per cent of fish stocks were over-fished. (However, it is not possible to directly compare these figures due to increases in the number of assessed species under the Quota Management System, and improved assessment methodologies).
  • Large commercial vessels conducted about 970,000 seabed trawls between 1990 and 2005. During this period, the area swept by trawls averaged around 55,000 square kilometres each year.
  • Since 1998, the area trawled by large commercial vessels has reduced from about 68,000 to about 50,000 square kilometres in 2005. This is probably due to reductions in the allowable catch for some high-value species.
  • New Zealand has 31 gazetted marine reserves, 15 of which have been established since 2000.
  • Between 1997 and 2007, the area designated as marine reserve increased from 7,602 square kilometres to 12,764 kilometres.
  • Marine reserves now cover just over 7 per cent of New Zealand’s territorial sea. This is high by international standards.
  • However, 99 per cent of our protected area is found in two offshore marine reserves, and some key habitats remain unprotected.
  • Eighty per cent of monitored beaches are safe to swim in almost all of the time.
  • One per cent of sites breached guidelines regularly. While this is encouraging, the period for which we have data is not long enough to show whether the improvements in recreational water quality are a trend, or merely annual variations.
  • At the time of the last update (2005), the total number of marine species in the acutely threatened, chronically threatened or at risk categories on the New Zealand Threat Classification list increased by one for marine fish, one for marine mammal, two for macroalgae and 26 for marine invertebrates.
  • The Campbell mollymawk and black petrel have shown enough recovery to have their threat classification lowered.

What is the government doing to improve the environmental management of the oceans?

A number of initiatives relate to the findings of the Oceans chapter are underway and under development. Examples include: