Potential Interactions Between Sharks and a Proposed Fish Farm Off Northern Stewart Island/Rakiura Response to Questions
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Potential interactions between sharks and a proposed fish farm off northern Stewart Island/Rakiura Response to Questions Prepared for Ngāi Tahu Seafood Resources Limited June 2020 Prepared by: Warrick Lyon For any information regarding this report please contact: Warrick Lyon Marine Mega Fauna & Fish Biology Group +64-4-386 0873 [email protected] National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd Private Bag 14901 Kilbirnie Wellington 6241 Phone +64 4 386 0300 NIWA CLIENT REPORT No: 2020169WN Report date: June 2020 NIWA Project: NGA20301 Quality Assurance Statement Reviewed by: David Thompson Formatting checked by: Alex Quigley Approved for release by: Alison MacDiarmid This report should be referenced as: Lyon, W.S. (2020) Potential interactions between sharks and a proposed fish farm off northern Stewart Island/Rakiura: Response to Questions. NIWA Client Report 2020169WN: 14. © All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or copied in any form without the permission of the copyright owner(s). Such permission is only to be given in accordance with the terms of the client’s contract with NIWA. This copyright extends to all forms of copying and any storage of material in any kind of information retrieval system. Whilst NIWA has used all reasonable endeavours to ensure that the information contained in this document is accurate, NIWA does not give any express or implied warranty as to the completeness of the information contained herein, or that it will be suitable for any purpose(s) other than those specifically contemplated during the Project or agreed by NIWA and the Client. Contents Executive summary ............................................................................................................. 4 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 5 2 Response to Questions ............................................................................................... 6 2.1 Response to Question 1 & 2: Provide information about shark species in the proposal area (and Foveaux Strait) to support the decision not to assess them because they are uncommon in the area, and Question 2: Please provide more information about shark species excluded from the assessment because their interactions with finfish farms at other locations is considered not significant and consider including them in the assessment. ............................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Response to Question 3: Are any of the recommended avoidance and mitigation measures considered necessary to reduce risk (especially to white sharks) to an ‘acceptable level’, if so which ones? ......................................... 8 2.3 Response to Question 4: What would the consequences be of not implementing any or all of the recommendations? ................................................. 9 2.4 Response to Question 5: Are any of the recommendations necessary to ensure compliance with NZCPS policy 11 relating to potential effects on white sharks? ..................................................................................................... 11 3 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. 13 4 References ............................................................................................................... 14 Tables Table 2-1: A list of shark species from the Stewart Island shelf, recorded from three NIWA summer bottom trawl surveys (Hurst and Bagley 1997). 6 Table 2-2: Each recommended avoidance and mitigation measure (Francis 2019) is listed and the consequences of not implementing each individual recommendation is recorded in the grey column. 9 Executive summary Ngāi Tahu Seafood Resources Limited commissioned NIWA in 2018 to provide a report assessing the potential for interactions between sharks and a proposed new fish farm situated off north-eastern Stewart Island/Rakiura. The subsequent report by Francis (2019) identified the two shark species most likely to interact with a fish farm in that location: the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias); and the broadnose sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus). Environmental Southland raised a number of questions/requests in response to the Francis (2019) report which this report addresses. Specifically, the requests and questions were: ▪ To provide information about other shark species in the proposal area (and Foveaux Strait) to support the decision not to assess them because they are uncommon in the area. ▪ To confirm if any of the recommended avoidance and mitigation measures are considered necessary to reduce risk (especially to white sharks) to an ‘acceptable level’, if so which ones. ▪ What would the consequences be of not implementing any or all of the recommendations. ▪ Are any of the recommendations necessary to ensure compliance with NZCPS policy 11 relating to potential effects on white sharks. At least 22 shark species have been identified from the Foveaux Strait area, and the criteria for assessing their likely presence or absence at the proposed fish farm site are explained. All of the avoidance and mitigation measures recommended by Francis (2019) would contribute to reducing the risks to white sharks. The recommended avoidance and mitigation measures 1 to 3 would be essential, represent international best practice and would have a direct effect in reducing risk to sharks. Recommendations 4 to 8 would be supportive of recommendations 1 to 3 and could be considered as providing additional information and an operating framework in which the benefits of recommendations 1 to 3 could be maximised. If recommendations 1 to 3 were implemented properly, then the other recommendations would not necessarily reduce the risk to white sharks significantly further. It follows, therefore, that the recommendations would not reduce risk equally; recommendations 1 to 3 would have a much larger effect than recommendations 4 to 8. The consequences of implementing all of Francis’s (2019) recommendations would be that sharks would be unlikely to suffer negative interactions from the proposed fish farm. The consequences of implementing none of Francis’s (2019) recommendations would be regular interactions of sharks with the proposed fish farm, some of which could cause injury or death. The goal of the NZCPS-policy 11 is to protect indigenous biological diversity in the coastal environment. White sharks are relevant to Policy 11 part (a) through sections i) and ii) as they are classified as threatened in New Zealand by DOC and globally through the IUCN. Clauses (a)(i) and (a)(ii) of Policy 11 require the proposed fish farm to ‘avoid adverse effects of activities’ on white sharks. Even if the residual risk to white sharks (having implemented recommendations 1 – 3 and additionally 4 – 8) resulted in the death or injury of a single shark, NIWA does not consider this would be significant at the population level. 4 Potential interactions between sharks and a proposed fish farm off northern Stewart Island/Rakiura 1 Introduction NIWA was commissioned by Ngāi Tahu Seafood Resources Limited in 2018 to: i) review and describe the known movements of white sharks at Stewart Island; ii) to review the distribution of white sharks from commercial fishing vessels and observers in Foveaux Strait; iii) review published material on interactions between white sharks and marine farms elsewhere; iv) consider the potential for impacts on other sharks in the region; v) assess the potential for white sharks to be meshed or entangled in the marine farms nets; and vi) make recommendations for mitigating any identified major risks to shark populations. The NIWA report published for Ngāi Tahu Seafood Resources, Francis (2019), assessed the potential for interactions between sharks and a proposed new fish farm situated off north-eastern Stewart Island/Rakiura, at a seafloor depth shallower than 50 m. Francis (2019) identified the two shark species most likely to interact with a fish farm in that location were the great white shark and the broadnose sevengill shark. Large predators, particularly the true sharks and rays, may be attracted to fish farms because they provide an easy opportunity to feed on preferred prey (Papastamatiou, Itano et al. 2011; Loiseau, Kiszka et al. 2016; Francis, M 2019). Predators may cause damage to farms while trying to access the fish, and they may themselves be injured or killed if they are trapped by or in the net, or in the process of being removed from the net by staff (Francis, M 2019). Sharks are particularly vulnerable to over-exploitation because of their typical life-history characteristics (slow growth, late attainment of sexual maturity, long life spans, low fecundity, and low natural mortality, and a close relationship between the number of young produced and the size of the breeding biomass) (Stevens, Bonfil et al. 2000). Sharks and the critical habitats they use during their life-history need to be carefully managed as shark populations can take several decades to recover if over-exploited. In this report the broad definition of ‘sharks’, as the Class Chondrichthyes, is used in responding to the questions. Class Chondrichthyes has three main divisions: the true-sharks (such as white sharks); the flat sharks (skates and rays); and the chimaera (such as ghost sharks and elephant fish). There are over one hundred species from the Class Chondrichthyes found