Sea and Ocean Policy

Read the Sea and Oceans Policy Summary

Introduction

The sea is the major component of our planet's life support system. It offers us many opportunities for food, transport, recreation, and education. It is a source of minerals and pharmaceuticals. The Green Party believes that when we use the sea's resources, we must do all that we can to maintain its ability to support its current complement of life, both human and non-human, plant and animal, so that its intrinsic values as well as its cultural, spiritual and utilitarian values to humans are maintained.

Vision

The Green Party's vision is that:

• The sea will be acknowledged for its intrinsic values, as well as, for the benefits it provides people and the planet.
• The sea will be clean, free of toxins, and healthy with all of its present living species represented with flourishing populations.
• People's efforts to exploit the sea's resources will be managed to ensure sustainability.
• The sea will have a network of large and small environmentally representative areas that are free from human interference.

Key Principles

1. The complex inter-relationships and connectedness of marine ecosystems, about which we still know so little, require a precautionary approach to all activities in the marine environment.
2. The sea's biodiversity and ecosystems have intrinsic values, as well as cultural, spiritual and utilitarian values, that need to be more clearly defined and acknowledged by all New Zealanders.
3. These values need to be protected from threats posed by pollution, alien species and over-utilisation.
4. The sea is an integral part of the commons; those seeking commercial benefit from its use should pay for the privilege of using it.
5. Those using the sea for commercial gain should not degrade its value in any way and should bear the major cost of funding its protection from their activities.
6. Te Tiriti o Waitangi must be honoured by recognising the kaitiakitanga of hapu, and shared decision making with mana whenua in all matters involving the marine environment.
7. Decision-making must involve the public in order to build a genuinely co-operative approach to the sea.

Specific Policy Points

1. A strategy to sustain our oceans

The Greens welcomed the 2001 initiative to develop an Oceans Strategy that would integrate all uses of the Sea. We have been frustrated by the delays in how this initiative has been progressed, caused by the foreshore and seabed and public access debates. Furthermore, we are concerned that the vision statement for the Oceans Strategy is centred more on human benefits from the Sea rather than on maintaining the integrity of marine ecosystems. The Greens believe that the Oceans Strategy should:

1. Have as its major aim the maintenance of the integrity, functioning and biodiversity of marine ecosystems.
2. Review the laws controlling our waters to ensure unified, consistent processes and goals covering fisheries, conservation, biosecurity, bio-prospecting, marine farming, marine transport, tourism and coastal processes under the Resource Management Act.
3. Reform the administration of the marine environment including establishing an oversight body to co-ordinate sustainable marine management at all levels of government.
4. Adopt a precautionary approach to the utilisation of the sea.
5. Include a marine reserve strategy (see Section 7).
6. Be fully integrated with the Biodiversity Strategy.
7. Include and fund a process to enable mana whenua to exercise their kaitiakitanga over the marine environment, including their customary and commercial fishing resources.
8. Ensure consistency with our obligations under the UN Law of the Sea, the UN Agreement on Straddling Stocks and Highly Migratory Species, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and other international marine agreements.

2. Sustainable fisheries management

Fisheries around the world have been devastated by over-utilisation. Despite the quota management system, New Zealand's fisheries are susceptible to the same fate as exemplified by the collapse of the orange roughy fishery and the marked decline currently occurring in the hoki fishery. Many quotas are set without any scientific evidence of the level of harvest that is sustainable. The Greens promote sustainable utilisation of fisheries and will:

1. Move to integrated marine ecosystem management to ensure fish populations are maintained at ecologically sustainable levels rather than single species stock management as occurs now, and to ensure that non target marine and seabird species are meaningfully considered.
2. Underpin fisheries management with consistent and integrated administration, sound scientific research and Maori knowledge of the sustainable management of fishing resources, e.g. through tikanga and matauranga.
3. Propose a return to resource rentals, as existed until 1992, because New Zealanders currently get no return from companies deriving profits by fishing public resources
4. Propose negotiations take place between the Crown and Maori quota-holders about establishing an equivalent process for rentals that will be paid by Maori quota-holders and managed by Maori.
5. Ensure allowable catches for species newly introduced into the QMS are set at very precautionary levels until research is completed that would enable sustainable levels to be set with confidence.
6. Manage all fish stocks by maintaining the population which supports the maximum sustainable yield (BMSY) as a minimum, not a target, level.
7. Introduce environmental impact assessments for fishing technologies.
8. In accordance with findings of environmental impact assessments, more vigorously impose restrictions:
   
   1. On fishing methods (such as bottom trawling and long lining) with high catch rates of endangered species.
   2. On periods of fishing, e.g. during times when environmental conditions lead to fewer young fish reaching maturity.
   3. On areas where fishing can occur, e.g. around the Auckland Island sea lion colonies, in accordance with findings of environmental impact assessments.
9. Require use of best practice methods of fishing within the timeframe specified by the Minister.
10. Increase resources, including increasing the number of fully-equipped honorary and paid fisheries officers, for enforcement of commercial, recreational and customary fisheries regulations to deter illegal and unsustainable take.
11. Develop local fisheries management plans based on sound science and providing for fair participation in the process by all stakeholders — including providing financial support to non-commercial groups to enable them to represent their interests at both local and national levels.
12. Manage kahawai and kingfish primarily as recreational fisheries with quota set only for unavoidable by-catch.
13. Manage seaweeds, sponges, paua and other relatively immobile life forms on a local area basis rather than in large Quota Management Areas in order to avoid local depletion.
14. Protect the viability of small commercial fishers and fishing communities as essential components of the fishing industry by:
    
    1. Supporting the role of small commercial fisheries in sustainably providing for New Zealanders to be able to consume seafood, recognising that many cannot catch it for themselves.
    2. Investigating the option of a clawback of in-shore quota into a local pool that can only be owned within a specific geographical area.
    3. Revising cost recovery and administration charges so that costs are more in proportion to the commercial benefit derived from the fishery, e.g., in the inshore fisheries flat boat registration charges will be changed to ensure they reflect the size of the vessels. Levies will not be charged when a fishery cannot be fished.
15. Promote better international management of high seas fisheries such as Patagonian toothfish, migratory tuna and other species, and better international control of destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling, and of illegal fishing.
16. Require foreign vessels chartered by New Zealand companies and New Zealand owned or registered vessels to abide by New Zealand law wherever they are operating.
17. Ensure retention of New Zealand control and utilisation of our fisheries.

3. Aquaculture

Aquaculture activities need to be sustainably managed in order to avoid damaging fish breeding grounds and other aspects of coastal ecosystems, and to avoid polluting the marine environment. To ensure sustainable management and public involvement in decision-making on aquaculture management areas, the Green Party will:

1. Set national standards under the Resource Management Act to guide regional councils in the processes to be followed when designating aquaculture management areas and assessing applications for marine farms.
2. Ensure regional councils have access to sound scientific advice on the environmental impacts of aquaculture activities, e.g. on nutrient flows and marine mammals, when designating Aquaculture Management Areas and determining consents for use of space.(Note: In the absence of scientific agreement, regional councils should take a precautionary approach to granting consents.)
3. Require regional councils to recognise the kaitiaki role of hapu when developing regional coastal plans and aquaculture management areas.
4. Ensure regional councils cannot enter confidentiality agreements over scientific information relevant to sustainability decisions.

4. Fisheries research

Most fisheries research is currently focussed on single species stock assessments, in line with the existing approach to management. To support a move to a marine ecosystem management approach, there will need to be a considerable increase in the amount of research investigating how fish interact with other species, both commercial and non-commercial, and with environmental factors like food sources, water quality and climatic changes. To this end, the Green Party will:

1. Support a major increase in multidisciplinary research to enhance understanding of marine and coastal ecosystems.
2. Increase research into the environmental effects of fishing methods and into more environmentally responsible fishing methods.
3. Provide research support for tangata whenua to investigate methods of managing their customary fishing resources.
4. Ensure research remains under public control, rather than being controlled by the industry.
5. Ensure that scientific observers, or other means of assessing catches, are on every significant vessel operating in New Zealand waters.
6. Develop urgently needed biosecurity risk assessment and control protocols.

5. Minerals extraction and other industrial activities

Although typically isolated, mineral and hydrocarbon extraction can have considerable negative impact on marine communities and ecosystems. Not only the physical disturbance and noise caused by extraction but also toxic substances released by the extraction process can be harmful. The Green Party will:

1. Ensure no mineral extraction, drilling, prospecting, or other industrial activity occurs in the EEZ outside the 12-mile limit until a process for environmental impact assessment and approval is in place which puts the burden of proof of safety on the applicant.
2. Ensure those involved in industrial activities are responsible for any costs involved in cleaning up pollution they cause.
3. Support resource rentals on minerals, oil and gas extraction (see the Green Party's Economics Policy for further information).
4. Oppose foreshore and seabed mining in significant marine habitats, e.g. the Maui dolphin's habitat.

6. Transport

With the majority of our processing and manufacturing centres near the coast, considerable fuel savings could be made by moving freight by sea rather than by road. The Greens will:

1. Support, where environmental impact can be managed, the shift of freight movements to coastal shipping which is more energy efficient than road.

7. Marine Conservation

The current management of the marine zone is dominated by commercial fishing, mineral extraction and transport interests. This has led to degradation of the marine environment resulting, probably, in species extinctions and, certainly, in massive declines in some commercial fish stocks. We simply do not know enough about the marine environment yet to justify taking anything but a precautionary approach to management. This must involve setting some areas aside as reserves. The Green Party will:

1. Consult fully with all stakeholders to develop a comprehensive marine protection strategy with targets and timetables for putting in place different categories of marine protection, including marine reserves.
2. Pass the Marine Reserves Bill, currently before Parliament, in the first 6 months in office, with appropriate amendments, including the facilitation of the co-location of reserves and Maori traditional management areas (mataitai and taiapure) to address Maori concerns about the loss of customary fishing rights.
3. Ensure early protection of a network of marine reserves of a viable area, representing all marine eco-system types, within our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), including coastal, seamount and deepwater areas which are critical for the maintenance of biodiversity and the replenishment of fisheries.
4. Recognise the cultural and heritage functions of marine reserves, in addition to their ecological and fisheries protection function, and locate some marine reserves near towns and cities, ensuring accessible educational, spiritual and recreational opportunities for people.
5. Encourage the development of taiapure and mataitai/reserve initiatives searching for win-win solutions that respect both ecosystem protection and customary rights.
6. Establish a network of marine mammal sanctuaries covering important feeding and breeding grounds of endangered marine mammals, including but not limited to:
   
   1. An extension of the Auckland Islands trawl-free marine mammal sanctuary, until marine mammal escape technologies are adequate to protect the endangered New Zealand Hooker's sea lion.
   2. Further restrictions on marine activities in the ranges of Maui and Hector's dolphins to achieve habitat protection and a zero by-catch of these species.
7. Amend the National Parks Act to facilitate the protection of marine areas adjacent to national parks (e.g. Fiordland).
8. Establish marine parks in key areas such as the Marlborough Sounds and the Bay of Islands by:
   
   1. Working with communities in the initial developmental stages.
   2. Ensuring these parks are managed by local people and tangata whenua.
9. Minimize fishing by-catch by:
   
   1. Setting a target of near-zero fishing-related mortality of marine mammals, turtles, endangered seabirds, and other threatened marine species, for all fisheries.
   2. Requiring the use of best practice methods.
   3. Closing the fisheries as soon as the limit is reached.
10. Advocate for the maximum possible protection of marine mammals by:
    
    1. Opposing all commercial and so-called 'scientific' whaling, and until that is achieved, supporting South Pacific and regional whale sanctuaries.
    2. Prohibiting the further holding of marine mammals in captivity except as part of an approved threatened species recovery strategy.
    3. Working to stop the disruptive exploitation of marine mammals.
11. Provide resources for marine biosecurity being given the same level of importance as terrestrial biosecurity, including risk assessment, surveillance, incursion response and on-going pest control where all else fails.
12. Support international initiatives for marine conservation.

8. Education

Although many people now accept that we cannot continue to dump waste into the sea, many still think of the sea as a vast, uniformly abundant area from which we can take what we need indefinitely. There is an urgent need for education about the sea, where ecosystems are much less understood than on land. The Green Party seeks to ensure that:

1. The people of New Zealand have access to whole community-based environmental education, which supports and promotes the long-term sustainability of the marine environment through:
   
   1. Promoting understanding of marine ecosystems by developing cross-curricula, cross-cultural, hands-on models both within and outside of the classroom.
   2. Reflecting the physical, spiritual, emotional and intellectual dimensions of people's interrelationships with the marine environment, at all ages and stages of life.
   3. Supporting the role of Maori education, both traditional and contemporary, from kohanga reo to kura kaupapa to whare wananga and in the mainstream.
   4. Exposing 'greenwashing' in schools and other educational institutions by those sectors which have an exploitative interest in the marine environment.
   5. Inspiring, informing and resourcing the community at large to take positive action for the marine environment.

   
   

2. New Zealand-based tertiary education and research opportunities in marine sciences,are promoted, emphasising standards of excellence.

9. Marine Pollution

The last few years have seen some horrendous marine pollution incidents around New Zealand. But spills of oil and other hazardous chemicals are only the most obvious form of pollution. Other forms are occurring continuously, through the waste and sediment we allow to run into waterways that flow into the sea. These can have devastating long-term effects on coastal marine ecosystems. The Green Party will:

1. Support the development of a Waterways Restoration Strategy and other initiatives that improve the water quality of streams and harbours.
2. Amend the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement, addressing whole catchment issues such as sewage disposal, run-off and sedimentation from subdivision.
3. Ensure that the Coastal Policy Statement is implemented at a local level.
4. Investigate ways of integrating coastal management to reduce conflict between different users, such as marine farmers, commercial and recreational fishers, recreational users, both passive and active, and local communities.
5. Require appropriate use of the International Maritime Organisation's restrictions on passage provisions (including routeing measures and pollution discharge regulations) to protect sensitive areas from potential marine pollution by freight and passenger vessels.
6. Exclude from sensitive marine environments ships that carry significant amounts of oil, and require oil and chemical tankers entering our territorial waters to be double-hulled by 2020.
7. Ensure that there is an ocean-going tug present in New Zealand at all times so that more rapid action can be taken in response to grounding of any large vessel.