Marine Biosecurity - Monitoring and Surveillance

As long as international vessels visit New Zealand, it remains inevitable that some introductions of unwanted non indigenous marine organisms will occur, meaning there will always be a need for monitoring and surveillance.

New Zealand's marine biosecurity system, while relatively advanced in its implementation compared with many other developed countries, is still very much in its infancy (which serves to illustrate just how new a discipline it is globally).

Our system is underpinned by the collection of thorough baseline information about what species currently exist at our busiest, and therefore high-risk, entry ports and marinas.

An initial series of surveys, undertaken between 2001 and 2004, looked at 13 commercial ports and three marinas to gain a snapshot of what’s there, and provide a benchmark against which the effectiveness of border control and other management practices can be measured.

Locations surveyed were (from north to south): Opua, Whangarei (port and marina), Gulf Harbour, Auckland (Waitemata), Tauranga, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Napier, Wellington, Picton, Nelson, Lyttelton, Timaru, Otago and Bluff.

The examination of those locations and the investigation of the approximately 27,000 specimens collected revealed some 1140 species in those areas. Of those1140, about 84 (seven percent) were found to be non indigenous. 125 species detected across the completed surveys were considered new records for New Zealand and included 18 non indigenous species, 15 native species, and 92 cryptogenic species (species whose status is unknown). Most of the non indigenous species are believed to have arrived in association with international vessel movements into and around New Zealand. Biofouling has been identified as the most likely means of introduction for the majority of these species (~73 percent), followed by ballast water.

A second phase of information gathering – resurveying the baseline locations to see how things had changed, was initiated in 2005.

Re-surveying the locations using the same methods as the initial baseline work set out to add to the species information already collected, reveal any new incursions, provide a measure of the rate of invasion of any organisms, a measure of the success of border controls, and pest management actions.

In addition to the 13 original locations, a further eight high risk and high value locations were added to the list to examine. These included: Kaipara Harbour, Manukau Harbour, the Taharoa iron-sands terminal (off the Waikato west coast), Tarakohe Harbour in Golden Bay, Kaikoura/Port Underwood, Milford Sound, Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands.

The ability to identify specimens collected in these surveys is critical to determining their status. For this task, MAF Biosecurity New Zealand has funded a Marine Invasives Taxonomic Service, based at NIWA .

The identification and analysis work is currently underway for the 2005 round of resurveys.

Page last updated: 10 June 2008