Appendix 7: Information and Monitoring

Management measures

The Guardians recommend five areas for use of monitoring indicators:

Fisheries indicators would be used to examine the state of fish stocks within Milford and Doubtful as well as inside the habitat lines. They would also assist the monitoring of familiarity, compliance, understanding and appreciation of the rules, and the reasons for any changes.
Areas of special significance include china shops and representative areas:
- representative areas contain a range of habitats, communities and diversity that represent Fiordland's marine environment
- china shops are small discrete areas that are outstanding for the abundance and/or diversity of animal or mixed animal and plant communities or for the abundance of particular animal species.
  
  The Guardians feel that the special characteristics of these areas need to be maintained or enhanced, and any damage avoided.
When monitoring the risks to the marine environment, community input was seen as very important. This is the monitoring of damaging practices, and attempts to remedy these.
Kaitiaki indicators monitor the levels of comfort for Ngai Tahu and the kaitiaki runanga (Oraka Aparima) with representation from these groups during implementation of the various facets of the Strategy. There was also a desire for the concept of kaitiakitanga to be understood by those interacting with the Fiordland marine area.
Finally the Guardians wished to put in place a feedback mechanism to monitor the performance of the Strategy as a whole. This would allow monitoring of the implementation of the whole package of measures so that stakeholders continue to feel positive about the Strategy and its success; to meet the expectations of the Guardians.

The Strategy highlights three current quantitative baseline studies currently being undertaken in the Fiordland marine environment:

a study looking at the state of blue cod, lobster and grouper stocks in Milford and Doubtful Sounds (Rick Boyd, Kingett Mitchell)
work to ascertain the state of fish stocks inside habitat lines in selected fiords (NIWA)
a study on geo-spatial layers for marine resources and biodiversity (Steve Wing, University of Otago).

The Ministry of Fisheries, the Department of Conservation and Environment Southland all currently have monitoring responsibilities in relation to their management functions. The Investigative Group proposes that these monitoring responsibilities will continue to be carried out by the respective agencies.

The Investigative Group also recommend that in order to make effective use of limited monitoring resources, management agencies should develop a shared approach to gathering information.

Options for implementation

The Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Conservation and Environment Southland will establish a planning team to work out how to develop an integrated, representative monitoring approach for Fiordland. This will include evaluating:

the resources available (from the Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Conservation and Environment Southland) for monitoring in Fiordland
whether the implementation of the Strategy will require a different approach to monitoring in Fiordland
ways in which monitoring costs can be shared
the information required to detect change in Fiordland, and how this will be done
how information gathered before the implementation of the strategy can be used as a baseline from which to measure progress
how, during the first five years of implementation, an appropriate monitoring system can be put in place to monitor blue stocks in the two closed sounds, and a trigger identified to lift or reinforce this closure
how, during the first five years of implementation, an appropriate system can be put in place to monitor china shops
how to make use of local community expertise when monitoring.

This planning team will report to the Minister for the Environment by June 2005.

Summary

The management measures for information and monitoring are:

develop an integrated, representative approach to monitoring for Fiordland to make effective use of limited monitoring resources
management agencies should work with the Fiordland Marine Guardians when developing this integrated monitoring approach.

To implement these management measures, the Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Conservation and Environment Southland will establish a planning team to work out how to develop an integrated, representative monitoring approach for Fiordland. This will include evaluating:

the resources available (from the Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Conservation and Environment Southland) for monitoring in Fiordland
whether the implementation of the Strategy will require a different approach to monitoring in Fiordland
ways in which monitoring costs can be shared
what information is needed to detect change in Fiordland and how this will be done
how information gathered before the implementation of the strategy can be used as a baseline from which to measure progress
how, during the first five years of implementation, an appropriate monitoring system can be put in place to monitor blue stocks in the two closed sounds, and a trigger identified to lift or reinforce this closure
how, during the first five years of implementation, an appropriate system can be put in place to monitor china shops
how to make use of local community expertise when monitoring.

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