Extracts relevant to the environmental impact of tourism in New Zealand from
the document “Marine narrative – the marine domain, MfE’s aspirations and
how we’re going to get there”
The following paragraphs were extracted from a Ministry for the Environment internal
document because they were deemed relevant to the environmental impact of tourism in
New Zealand. The original document is a working document, for internal purposes only and
does not represent Government Policy. All extracts are direct quotes.
Extracts:
From Section 1.0:
Purpose and Key messages
“The purpose of this narrative is to provide a brief overview of the marine domain and
the Ministry’s aspirations for what we think the marine domain needs to look like for a
prosperous and livable New Zealand, and to link these desired outcomes with the
marine team’s priorities and work programme.”
From Section 2.2
: Information about the marine environment
“As New Zealand’s population has increased, and technology has advanced,
pressures on inshore coastal areas such as Kaipara Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf
have also increased. These pressures come from a range of activities e.g.
recreational fishing and boating, tourism, dairy farming, aquaculture and coastal
habitation. Although these areas of intense use may be relatively well described, we
do not necessarily know enough about the cumulative effects of activities or how to
manage them. It is important that we improve our understanding of cumulative effects
and adjust our management practices accordingly.”
From Section 2.5
: Pressures on the marine environment
“Sea-based activities such as transport and tourism also contribute to marine
pollution. There are both marine and cross-domain effects from these activities, such
as sewage and air pollution in harbours from cruise ships. Given the increasing focus
under the Official Information Act 1982
on marine tourism in New Zealand (e.g. 77 cruise ships are scheduled to visit
Wellington harbour over the 2015/16 summer), it is important that we understand the
effects of tourism activities in our territorial sea and exclusive economic zone. Our
limited understanding of the impacts means it is difficult to know whether we need to
regulate these activities. For example, New Zealand has not signed up to either
Annex 4 or 6 of MARPOL (which regulate sewage and air pollution from ships), and a
Released
better understanding of impacts may lead us to advocate for becoming a signatory”.
From Section 3.2
: Incentives and challenges for management of the marine domain
“In 2002, marine tourism provided over $50million to the NZ economy. In 2013 in
Kaikoura, 1 in 8 jobs is supported by the tourism industry, which is focused around
the marine environment.”