Aotearoa New Zealand is home to a wide range of marine species and ecosystems. Marine protected areas, like marine reserves, help protect these ecosystems from human disturbances. DOC is responsible for creating new marine reserves and for monitoring and managing the ones that already exist.

Our marine monitoring is guided by the Marine Monitoring and Reporting Framework (MMRF). We track indicative “themes” in marine ecosystems that are inside and around marine reserves. This helps us evaluate marine reserve effectiveness over time.

Marine Monitoring and Reporting Framework

MMRF Monitoring Reports

Under the MMRF framework, we produce two types of monitoring reports for each marine reserve:

• Technical reports evaluate the status and trend of a monitoring theme at a marine reserve, over a period of monitoring.
• Summary reports summarise the status and trends of all themes monitored at a marine reserve, over our complete history of monitoring.

Technical Reports

Hikurangi Marine Reserve - assessing the effects of protection on key subtidal reef species and the intertidal reef community, 2016-2024.

Published: 2025
Theme assessed: Key species (pāua, rock lobster, kina, fish)

Hikurangi Marine Reserve key species report (PDF, 2,157K)

Summary Reports

Tapuae Marine Reserve Summary Report - monitoring of habitats, climate change, and key species, 2000-2024.

Published: 2026
Themes summarised: Habitat, climate change, key species

Tapuae Marine Reserve summary report (PDF, 4,485K)

Bibliography

Department of Conservation (2026). Tapuae Marine Reserve Summary Report - monitoring of habitats, climate change and key species, 2000-2024. Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand. 23 p.

Gerrity, S., Virgin, S., Ladds, M. (2025). Hikurangi Marine Reserve - assessing the effects of protection on key subtidal reef species and the intertidal reef community, 2016-2024. Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand. 29 p.