Farewell Spit Ramsar Site

• David Melville Ornithological Society of /Birds New Zealand • Mike Ogle Department of Conservation • Simon Walls Department of Conservation/Manawhenua ki Mohua • Lawson Davey Nelson/Marlborough Fish & Game Council • Declared a Ramsar Site 13 August 1976

The Ramsar Site boundary is the same as the Nature Reserve – mean low spring tide level Criteria for designation* 1. Representative of a natural wetland type 2. Supports threatened species 3. Populations important for maintaining biological diversity 4. Critical stage of the life cycle 5. Supports >20,000 waterbirds 6. Supports 1% of species/subspecies

7 & 8 relate to fish – not applicable 9 relates to 1% of non-avian taxa

* Criteria as adopted in 1999 and 2005 Representative wetland types Mobile dunes, dune slacks, Zostera flats Rare and threatened species

Notoacmea helmsi scapha [?] Pimelea villosa [Nationally Endangered] Eleocharis neozelandica [At Risk]

Latrodectus katipo [At Risk] Critical stage of the life cycle

Pre-migratory ↓ fattening Moult

Migration >20,000 waterbirds Internationally important waterbird populations What does Ramsar mean for Farewell Spit? • International recognition BUT – No current management plan – No monitoring plan – NO CMS Ramsar Management Plans

• STRONGLY URGES Contracting Parties to apply the New Guidelines to establish and implement management planning processes, particularly for those Ramsar Sites within their territory that do not yet have such processes and plans in place . Ecological character

• INVITES Contracting Parties and those responsible for the management of Ramsar Sites to apply these guidelines in the preparation of ecological character descriptions of Ramsar Sites, and as part of their management planning processes, so that these descriptions constitute a complementary basis to the Information Sheets on Ramsar Wetlands (RIS) for detecting and notifying changes in ecological character, as established through Article 3.2 of the Convention text [Farewell Spit RIS October 1992] Ramsar Monitoring

• CALLS ON Contracting Parties to support the development , by the relevant authorities within their territories, of Early Warning Systems for detecting, and initiating action in response to, change in ecological character Ramsar monitoring

• URGES Contracting Parties, as a matter of high priority , to put in place mechanisms in order to be informed at the earliest possible time , including through reports by national authorities and local and indigenous communities and NGOs, if the ecological character of any wetland in its territory included in the Ramsar List has changed, is changing or is likely to change Inter -relationship between monitoring and management

Description of the site Development of at time of designation Management Plan for the site Description using RIS Maintenance of ecological Detailed map character provides basis of management actions and Ecological character monitoring regime Update description

Management actions Ongoing monitoring and impact assessments Regular monitoring to provide feedback to Monitoring regime forms part of regular reviews of Management Plan Management Plan Management challenges • Dune vegetation – Threatened dune slack plants - exotics – Marram – control or leave? – wind blown sand contributes to tidal flats

[Ballance et al. 2006 NZ J Geol Geophys 49: 91-99] Management challenges • Fire – Puponga Farm Park acquired as ‘fire break’ for Farewell Spit

• Grazing – Hare [deer, possum]

• Predation – Pig, mustelids

>300 pigs removed in past 2 years Cetacean strandings • Farwell Spit has more cetacean strandings than anywhere else in NZ • Iwi involvement in rescue and carcass disposal Cetacean standings • Sperm Whales 134 tonnes (3 animals – November 2014)

• Pilot Whales 114 tonnes (120 animals – February 2015) Monitoring – bird census • OSNZ counts since 1960s – February (summer), June (winter), November (spring)

[Schuckard & Melville 2014. Shorebirds of Farewell Spit, Golden Bay and Bay] Changing shorebird populations Monitoring – bird census • Population of Red Knot declined c.75% 1961- 2001 at Farewell Spit – but numbers increased at Manukau Harbour, Auckland. • What caused decline?

. Manukau Harbour X Farewell Spit • At Farewell Spit, they feed mostly on molluscs - principally on small pipis, cockles and nutshells.

• Also feed on crustaceans, not recorded anywhere else. Baseline data – benthos survey 2003

To provide baseline information on the distribution and abundance of intertidal macrobenthic organisms, with particular reference to prey species for shorebirds.

12,839 specimens of 91 taxa

Monitoring - Black Swans

• Farewell Spit major moulting site

• Annual census by Fish & Game The future – increase in marine farming? • Potential adverse impacts on benthos at Farewell Spit – zooplankton ‘harvesting’ by mussels

Circulation Chlorophyll Marine farming Tuckey et al . 2006. NZ J Mar sites Phytoplankton Freshw Res 40: 305-324 Min Fisheries 2010 depletion NIWA Tasman and Golden Bays oceanography report MPI 2013. Overview of ecological effects of aquaculture Future – mineral extraction? ‘Oil and coal permits threaten national parks’

‘The oil exploration permit application area includes the shoreline of and Kahurangi national parks, Farewell Spit Nature Reserve , and the Westhaven and marine reserves.’

‘Iwi against oil, gas and coal proposal in Golden Bay’

‘Mineral bid seen as goldmine for region’

‘Plug pulled on Golden Bay mining’ The future – climate change – Zostera

• Increased temperature strong negative effect of warming and a positive effect of genotypic diversity on shoot densities [Ehler et al . 2009. MEPS 355: 1-7]

• Increased storm frequency

• Sea level rise The future – climate change - benthos

• Warmer water – Less reproductive output – Slower growth rate

[Philippart et a l. 2003 . Limnol. [Beukema et al . 2009. MEPS 384: Oceanogr . 48: 2171-2185] 135-145] • Ocean acidification – larvae the most sensitive life-history stage , with a large majority of studies on this critical stage of development

revealing negative effects [Gazeau et al. 2013. Marine Biology 160: 2207-2245] The future • Exotic organisms – Asian Date Mussel – Canada Goose

• Disease – Avian influenza cetaceans ↔ birds ??

– Ross River Fever/Southern Saltmarsh Mosquito

Aedes camptorhynchus Partnerships • Waterbird monitoring – Birds New Zealand, Fish & Game

• Cetacean strandings – iwi, Dawn breaks on a new Ramsar day……..