Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve and Mimiwhangata Marine Park fish monitoring 2009
Published:
May 2010
This report describes the survey of relative abundance of reef fish at the Poor Knights Marine Reserve (full no take protection), the Mimiwhangata Marine Park (partial protection), and Mimiwhangata, North Cape, Cape Karikari and Cape Brett (open to fishing). Using existing data and recent survey data, the performance of these three alternative management strategies is evaluated.
Summary
Cover of the report showing baited video
monitoring equipment in action
The Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve has resulted in a significant increase in the size and abundance of snapper.
This study found that in 2009 after more than ten years of no take protection snapper counts were 14 times greater than in 1998 before the marine reserve became fully no-take.
Snapper abundance and size within the Mimiwhangata Marine Park were compared with fished sites at Mimiwhangata. These comparisons indicate that snapper abundance within the marine park was not significantly different than adjacent areas of coast open to fishing.
This study supports previous investigations and concludes that the Mimiwhangata Marine Park fishing restrictions are not achieving their goal of protecting biodiversity while allowing for limited recreational take.
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Publication information
Paul Roux De Buisson
Published by:
© Copyright 2010, New Zealand Department of Conservation
ISBN: 978-0-478-14778-0 (printed copy)
ISBN: 978-0-478-14777-3 (Web pdf)
In the interest of conservation, DOC supports paperless electronic publishing. When printing, paper manufactured with environmentally sustainable materials and processes is used wherever possible.
Review process
This document has been submitted to one internal and one external expert reviewer. Reviewers were selected because of their expertise in marine science and marine conservation. This review process was undertaken to ensure that methodologies and recommendations within this report are robust and in line with best practice. This report has been reviewed by: Dr Debbie Freeman Dr Nick Shears