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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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