Tamatea/Dusky Sound Conservation & Restoration Plan TAMATEA/DUSKY SOUND CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION PLAN Prepared by Wildland Consultants Ltd. and the Department of Conservation, Fiordland District, 2016. ‘Mō tātou, ā mō kā uri ā muri ake nei’ ‘For us and our children after us’ “… [Resolution and Secretary] islands are peculiarly suitable for birds, such as pigeons, kākā, ducks, and particularly kiwi” (Martin H. 1885: The protection of native birds. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 18: 112-117) “Our kiwi, with our kākāpo, are being wiped out of existence … the day of the wingless bird is over. Save only on our sanctuary islands are the birds common, on Stewart Island, Resolution Island, Kapiti, and the Barriers” (Fulton 1907: The disappearance of the New Zealand birds. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 40: 485-500) 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report comprises an integrated ecological conservation and restoration plan for the Tamatea/Dusky Sound project area, which includes all of the terrestrial and marine ecosystems within Tamatea/Dusky Sound, Breaksea Sound, Wet Jacket Arm, and Acheron Passage, including important mainland buffer zones which have intrinsic values, provide additional high quality habitat, and will enhance the protection of established or proposed pest control areas. This plan contains a strategic assessment of where to direct conservation effort, and why. Tamatea/Dusky Sound has a significant human history, but light human footprint. Remains of cave dwellings, ovens, storage pits, huts, canoes, tools, and middens demonstrate seasonal Māori occupation prior to European colonisation. Waitaha, Ngati Mamoe and Ngāi Tahu are the first peoples known to be associated with Tamatea/Dusky Sound. For centuries, and prior to Europeans, these people visited the area to harvest the rich resources found in the many fiords. Over time and in common with the traditional place-naming practices, landscape features have received the names of tupuna (ancestors). In Ngāi Tahu tradition the fiords are the raised sides of Te Waka o Aoraki. The tupuna Aoraki, along with his brothers came to visit their step-mother Papatūānuku. Before their return to the heavens and as a result of Aoraki reciting an incorrect karakia, they became stranded when their waka overturned. The waka foundered and over a long time, its passengers were turned to stone. Aoraki and his brothers stand sentinel as the highest peaks of Te Tiritiri o te Moana (the Southern Alps). Another tupuna, Tu Te Rakiwhanoa, with one foot on Ka Tu Waewae o Tu (Secretary Island at the entrance of Doubtful Sound) and the other on Mauikatau (Resolution Island) used his ko (digging stick) to carve out the fiords. Later, Tamatea, the great Māori explorer from the north travelling aboard the waka Takitimu, named the broken land ‘Te Rua-o-te-moko’. This likened the deeply gouged coast with the art of moko or tattoo. Tamatea is now the name conferred on Dusky Sound. Today, Ngāi Tahu retains this strong traditional association and exercises its kaitiaki responsibilities alongside the Department of Conservation through a Treaty Partner relationship. European history includes the mooring of Captain Cook’s vessel in Tamatea/Dusky Sound for five weeks in 1773, the first landing of a European sealing gang on Anchor Island in 1792, the first European shipwreck in Facile Harbour, the reservation of many Fiordland coastal islands in the early 1890s, and a pioneering attempt by Richard Henry to protect indigenous bird populations by transferring them from the mainland to Resolution Island in the late 1890s to early 1900s. Tamatea/Dusky Sound, along with the other fiords, was a cornerstone of New Zealand’s early tourism industry from the 1870s. Current human activities in the Tamatea/Dusky Sound area include commercial fishing, commercial venison recovery, recreational fishing, tourism (including cruise ships), tramping, and hunting. Management of the project area and its values is governed by a range of statutes and agencies, which requires coordinated action to achieve objectives, particularly those relating to the marine environment. There is a statutory acknowledgement applying to Te Mimi o Tu Te Rakiwhanoa (Fiordland Coastal Marine Area) recognising Ngāi Tahu's cultural, spiritual, historic, and traditional association to this area. Terrestrial habitats 4 are part of Fiordland National Park, while marine habitats are mainly unprotected but include a mix of marine reserves, commercial exclusion zones, ‘china shops’ (where anchoring is restricted, to protect fragile encrusting communities), and open seas. The marine environment is representative of western Fiordland fiords and fiord complexes. It is characterised by extremes of salinity, wave action, and irradiance that, together, influence patterns in productivity. The coastline is generally steep, rocky, and exposed. The fiords are full of coves and contain numerous islands and islets, the largest of which is Resolution Island (20,890 ha). Over 700 islands are present in the project area, but the vast majority are very small. Forty-three islands are larger than 4 ha, 28 are larger than 10 ha, and only six are larger than 100 ha. The only invasive marine species known is the seaweed Undaria. Indigenous vegetation cover across the project area is intact, although its composition is being adversely affected by red deer browse damage. The possum-free status of islands in the project area means that indigenous pikiraki/mistletoe assemblages are essentially undisturbed, although at relatively low abundance. Podocarp and tawhai/beech forest covers most of the terrestrial surface, with subalpine scrub above the treeline and alpine tussock grassland at higher elevations. Mānuka and Chionochloa acicularis are locally dominant in poorly-drained lowland habitats, mostly on peat. Coastal scrub and herbfield occur extensively on exposed coastal sites. One Threatened, nineteen At Risk and four other notable vascular plant species have been recorded within the project area. Fourteen Threatened, 29 At Risk, five Coloniser or Migrant, and 20 Not Threatened indigenous bird species have been recorded in the area, including a wide range of seabirds and forest birds. The At Risk Fiordland skink is well known from the area. Eight indigenous fish species (five classified as At Risk) and koura have been recorded in freshwater habitats. Several important terrestrial invertebrates, including eight At Risk taxa, are present within and near the project area. The Tamatea/Dusky Sound project area also supports significant kekeno/seal colonies and a population of terehu/bottlenose dolphin with Critically Endangered status. There are no substantial populations of any terrestrial weeds of conservation concern and no known aquatic weed species. Gorse is present but has a limited distribution. Terrestrial indigenous fauna populations are threatened by introduced pest animals, particularly stoats and rodents. However, most of the islands in Tamatea/Dusky Sound have never been invaded by possums, and some islands have had few or none of the four rodent species or stoats, and are in near pristine condition. Successful pest animal eradications have been undertaken for Norway rat (Hawea Island and Breaksea Island), stoats and deer (Anchor Island and its outlying islands), and Norway rats (Indian Island). Stoat and deer control is currently undertaken on Resolution Island and stoat control has recently begun on Long Island. Deer are still present on Resolution Island, although numbers have been greatly reduced. In total, approximately 1,500 ha of island habitats are free of pest animals, while another 25,000 ha have reduced pest assemblages, especially Resolution Island which is free from possums and rats, and where control (and potential eradication) of mustelids and deer is being actively pursued. This island assemblage is a very significant conservation 5 resource in its own right, having an intact cover of primary indigenous vegetation, a diverse range of habitats, and direct linkages to marine protected areas; adding considerable strategic weight to any conservation activities undertaken in the Tamatea/Dusky Sound project area. This plan sets out four conservation and restoration goals: Goal 1: Natural ecosystems, ecological processes, and species are protected by eliminating or controlling to sufficiently low densities terrestrial pest species and by preventing the establishment of new pest species. Goal 2: Terrestrial ecosystems within the Tamatea/Dusky Sound project area are enhanced through reintroduction of missing (or analogue) species, and biodiversity information gaps are progressively filled. Goal 3: Marine ecological functions, habitats, and populations of indigenous species within the Tamatea/Dusky Sound project area are protected and marine- terrestrial interactions are enhanced and marine biodiversity information gaps are progressively filled. Goal 4: As the Treaty Partner Ngāi Tahu is involved in the strategic direction of the Tamatea/Dusky Sound conservation and restoration project. Stakeholders and community are also engaged in and support all aspects of the project. Historic, cultural, and recreational values are not significantly diminished by biodiversity conservation actions, and biodiversity values are not compromised by visitor use. Fifty-nine objectives and associated actions have been developed in order to achieve these goals. The objectives cover vegetation and habitat mapping, pest animal