Sea Change Marine Spatial Plan

DECISION: APPROVED

Introduction

Successive reports on the state of the environment have shown an ongoing decline of the health of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.

Fish stocks are depleted yet bottom trawling and commercial scallop harvesting using the Victorian Box Dredge is still permitted within the Park boundaries.

In June 2021 the Government released an action plan: Revitalising the Gulf. This latest plan was in response to the 2017 Sea Change plan.

Sea Change plan

An integrated series of fisheries management and marine protection tools were proposed in the Sea Change plan. We were part of a working group that spent years putting the plan together. All agreed it was a package deal, no cherry picking.

At the end of 2016 the plan was handed over to officials from DoC and Fisheries New Zealand to promote through Government channels and find resourcing to fund its enactment. We exited the process optimistic that meaningful change was on the horizon.

The Government’s Revitalising the Gulf action plan delivered in the last week of June 2021 is not what we had agreed to in 2016.

What does it mean?

We are disappointed and concerned that the Government’s Revitalising the Gulf action plan does little to defend the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park from ongoing destructive fishing practices.

Commercial fishing remains largely untouched. There is no intent to reduce the excessive exploitation rates on species such as gurnard, kahawai, John dory, trevally, rock lobster, hapukū, maomao and others.

Destructive fishing techniques such as bottom trawling, dredging, Danish seining and purse seining are still permitted. Some “trawl corridors” will be created, not sure when or where. Meanwhile there are proposals to restrict recreational fishing, limiting the ability of people fishing to put food on the table.

The Government is relying on creating 18 new marine protected areas to revitalise a century of damage.

The proposed pockets of marine protected areas will merely shift fishing effort out into the wider Gulf and beyond, with no intent to manage the displaced effort. A bit like a balloon, if you squeeze it in one place the rest is put under pressure. This is not an acceptable way to treat the Gulf’s neighbours in Northland and the Bay of Plenty.

The fishery interventions so urgently needed are absent, all left to be dealt with at a later date via a plan for a plan. A plan to deliver a plan for fisheries management some time in the future is not bold. Nor is it transformative.

Not good enough.

Background

In order to understand how we have arrived at this juncture, the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council has collated a range of documents, research papers and articles below to help inform future discussions.

The planning process was initiated by the Auckland Council and Waikato Regional Council, supported by iwi/hapū, the Department of Conservation (DoC) and Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). Expert and scientific advice was obtained from NIWA, DoC, MPI and Council officials. Implementation responsibility was shared between DoC and MPI.

In 2011 the Hauraki Gulf Forum released a draft plan for the Gulf waters and proposed some marine protected areas. Implementation of the plan was expected by 2015. Discussions continued and a stakeholder working group was established in December 2013.

In 2014 seven ‘Roundtables’ were established to focus on specific aspects that were affecting the Gulf. Those Roundtables were: Fish stocks, Biodiversity & Biosecurity, Water quality, Aquaculture, Accessible Gulf, and Infrastructure & commercial uses. The New Zealand Sport Fishing Council (NZSFC) participated in the Fish stocks and Biodiversity & Biosecurity roundtables.

Roundtable membership was chosen by the organisers and included representatives from a variety of commercial interests, non-commercial organisations, NGOs and private citizens living around the Gulf.

By the end of 2014 the Roundtables completed their discussions and a formal handover of information to the Stakeholder Working Group (SWG) occurred in February 2015. The SWG was expected to report to government in June 2015.

The process stalled in 2015. Renewed interest in the process led to a new independent chair being appointed to the SWG in September 2015. The NZSFC had one representative on the SWG until his departure in October 2015. The New Zealand Sport Fishing Council nominated a new representative to the Working Group in December 2015.

Sea Change Tai Timu Tai Pari

In December 2016 the Sea Change Tai Timu Tai Pari Hauraki Gulf Marine Spatial Plan was released however it wasn’t widely published until March 2017. Another State of the Environment report was published by the Hauraki Gulf Forum in December 2017, showing further declines in fish populations and the health of the marine environment.

No further progress was made until the Hauraki Gulf Forum released its 2020 State of the Environment report. By April 2020 the government released its response to the Sea Change plan.

In June 2020 the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council submitted a comprehensive response to the government’s strategy. This submission was a joint statement from a range of organisations concerned about the ongoing degradation and lack of meaningful response to address the well known issues affecting the Gulf.

Action plan

In June 2021 the government released an action plan to give effect to the Sea Change proposals. The action plan strategy: Revitalising the Gulf – Government action on the Sea Change Plan. Turning the Tide on the Declining Health of the Hauraki Gulf.

The action plan package includes proposals for 18 new marine protected areas and a fisheries plan that seeks to limit recreational fishing while leaving commercial fishing and destructive fishing practices virtually untouched.

The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park was established in 2000 to provide for the wellbeing of all people of the Gulf. The New Zealand Sport Fishing Council and LegaSea will work with its partners and like-minded conservation organisations to ensure a fair outcome from this process so people can continue to fish responsibly and provide for their family’s social and cultural wellbeing from fishing.

Relevant information

2021

Public awareness

Media

Action plan 2020-21

Media coverage

Media. Hauraki Gulf issues

2020

Submission

Media

Reports

2018

Media

2017

Reports

2016

Reports

2015

Correspondence

Process paused. No further development by officials.

Roundtable process

2014

Reports

Media

Reports

2013

2012

Reports

2011

Reports

Draft Auckland Plan

Media

Report

Correspondence

2010

Report

2008

Report

2004

Report

2002

Report