EDS Report Highlights Need To Better Manage Cumulative Impacts On The Otago Coast

Scoop

06-05-2025

Press Release – Environmental Defence Society
The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) today released a report on the Otago Coast titled Oceans Management in a Changing Climate. The case study is part of EDS's Oceans Project which is developing concrete recommendations for oceans management reform.
'The Otago coastal area has extraordinary marine biodiversity as a result of its unique biophysical characteristics,' said case study author and EDS Policy Director Raewyn Peart.
'It features abundant krill, extensive kelp forests and rare bryozoan thickets.
'However, the area is subject to some of the most intense ocean warming experienced anywhere in the country. Keystone species such as bull and bladder kelp are suffering badly with cascading impacts on other marine life.
'The effects of climate change on the Otago coast are more extreme than would otherwise be the case, because they overlay existing pressures on the marine environment including sedimentation and the impacts of fishing activity.
'Wildlife tourism is an important component of the Otago economy but endemic species such as the Hector's dolphin, Hoiho and Otago shag are now threatened with extinction. This is thought to be partly due to depletion of their preferred fish prey.
'Exotic plantation forests, which have been identified as a major cause of sedimentation along the coast, are increasing in extent. But the Otago Regional Council's attempts to apply more rigorous rules to the sector have been stymied by recent amendments to the Resource Management Act.
'Spatial protection efforts in the marine area have been exceedingly slow and have yet reached fruition. Although the Fisheries Act has contained a requirement to protect habitats of significance to fisheries management since 1996, Fisheries New Zealand only this year released guidance on the topic, and it has yet to identify (let alone protect) significant habitats on the Otago coast.
'The revised New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement, which came into force in 2010, contains a strong directive for councils to protect significant indigenous biological diversity in the marine area, but the Otago Regional Council has yet to do so. The Council recently identified more than 100 significant marine areas, but it does not plan to notify provisions to protect them before mid 2028.
'It is over a decade since the South-East Marine Protection Forum was first established to identify a network of marine reserves along the Otago coast. Although six marine reserves were recently approved by government, implementation has now stalled due to legal proceedings.
'The East Otago Taiāpure provides an excellent example of how of how rūnanga and local communities can work together to better manage their local marine areas. Such initiatives need to be more strongly supported.
'The future health of Otago's coastal marine area will depend on the implementation of an integrated strategy that effectively deals with cumulative pressures on the marine environment.
'This could be achieved through the development of an integrated marine spatial plan or similar. Such a collaborative exercise could be undertaken under the auspices of the Otago Biosphere Reserve, should that initiative proceed,' concluded Ms Peart.
Limited hard copies of the report will be available at EDS's Auckland Oceans Symposium next week (12 May). An online version is available here.