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Threats
to marine biodiversity
Scientists
around the world agree that human activity can seriously threaten
marine biodiversity. The most serious threats to marine biodiversity
are:
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fishing
- recreational and commercial |
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pollution
with chemicals and nutrients - often from land sediments |
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alteration
of physical habitat |
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invasions
of exotic species introduced by boats or other carriers coming
from overseas |
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global
climate change, which affects ocean temperature and sea levels. |
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threats have widespread social, economic, and biological consequences,
including: |
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dramatic
reductions in the numbers of many popular edible fish and shellfish |
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the
extinction of species that might be useful in developing new
medicines |
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change
in the basic functioning of ecosystems |
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Protecting
our marine biodiversity
The Government
has put in place a range of laws, strategies, and research
programmes to protect our marine biodiversity.
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The
Fisheries Act 1996
New Zealand's
Fisheries Act 1996 is the law that describes how we should
manage our fisheries resources sustainably. Among other things,
the Act requires that we do the following things:
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Where
species are associated with each other or dependent on each
other, we should not take too many of them in order to make
sure that the species survive in the long term. |
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We
should maintain the biological diversity of the marine environment. |
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We
should protect habitats that are particularly significant for
fisheries management. |
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The New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy
The New
Zealand Biodiversity Strategy is a set of goals for the country
to work towards. It aims to turn the tide on the decline of
our biodiversity and to maintain and restore a full range
of our remaining natural habitats and ecosystems, such as
forests, wetlands, and coastal environments.
The four
goals are:
1. To
maintain and restore a full range of remaining natural habitats
and ecosystems in a healthy functioning state and viable populations
of all indigenous species across their natural ranges.
2.
To maintain the genetic resources of introduced species that
are important to New Zealand for economic, biological, and
cultural reasons.
3.
To recognise the role of Màori in conserving and sustainably
using biodiversity.
4.
To recognise the role of communities and individuals in conserving
and sustainably using biodiversity
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Theme
3 (a section of Part 3 of the Strategy) covers coastal and
marine biodiversity. The environments that it covers include
estuaries, coasts, and offshore areas within New Zealand's
territory and other jurisdictions, for example, the Exclusive
Economic Zone and Antarctica's Ross Sea. It also covers the
marine species (plants, organisms that live on the sea floor,
fish, marine mammals, birds, and other organisms) that live
in these areas.
The Government's
goals are that in the year 2020:
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New
Zealand's natural marine habitats and ecosystems are maintained
in a healthy functioning state. Degraded marine habitats are
recovering. A full range of marine habitats and ecosystems representative
of New Zealand's indigenous marine biodiversity is protected. |
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No
human-induced extinctions of marine species within New Zealand's
marine environment have occurred. Rare or threatened marine
species are adequately protected from harvesting and other human
threats, enabling them to recover. |
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Marine
biodiversity is appreciated, and any harvesting or marine development
is done in an informed, controlled, and ecologically sustainable
manner. |
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No
new undesirable introduced species have become established,
and threats to indigenous biodiversity from established exotic
organisms are being reduced and controlled. |
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| To
read the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy, see www.biodiversity.govt.nz/picture/doing/nzbs
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