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The New Zealand Seamount Management Strategy - Steps Towards Conserving Offshore Marine Habitat

Malcolm Clark and Stuart Brodie

NIWA, KILBIRNIE, NEW ZEALAND

Theme: TH5

Seamount features are common and widespread in the New Zealand region. They are widely regarded as productive, yet fragile, habitat, and are the focus of major deep-water trawl fisheries for species such as orange roughy, oreo, and cardinalfish. The rapid escalation of fishing activity during the 1990s and increased awareness about the nature of seamounts prompted the Ministry of Fisheries to start developing a strategy to manage commercial fishing in order to protect biodiversity and productivity of seamount habitat. Steps in the evolution of the management strategy, its main features, and the scientific input are described, leading up to the closure in 2001 of 19 seamounts to all commercial trawl fisheries. These seamounts cover a wide geographical and depth range, as well as a variety of geological structures and activity. Information on faunal composition and biodiversity was initially limited, but subsequent surveys of several of the protected seamounts have revealed a large number of new invertebrate species or new records for the New Zealand region. However, further extensive research is required to characterise adequately the variety of seamount benthic fauna in New Zealand waters, and to provide the necessary information for effective seamount habitat management. Future challenges still to be addressed in order to further develop the seamount management strategy are discussed. However, the strategy has been an important first step to provide some protection to a vulnerable environment, and is continuing to develop as a possible template for management of other habitat types in New Zealand waters.