BEFORE THE EPA CHATHAM ROCK PHOSPHATE MARINE CONSENT APPLICATION IN THE MATTER of the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2012 AND IN THE MATTER of a decision-making committee appointed to consider a marine consent application made by Chatham Rock Phosphate Limited to undertake rock phosphate extraction on the Chatham Rise __________________________________________________________ STATEMENT OF EVIDENCE OF MARTIN WILLIAM CAWTHORN FOR CHATHAM ROCK PHOSPHATE LIMITED Dated: 25 August 2014 __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Barristers & Solicitors J G A Winchester / H P Harwood Telephone: +64-4-499 4599 Facsimile: +64-4-472 6986 Email: [email protected] DX SX11174 P O Box 2402 Wellington CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 5 Qualifications and experience ........................................................................... 5 Code of conduct .................................................................................................. 7 Role in marine consent application ................................................................... 7 Scope of Evidence............................................................................................... 7 PREVALENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE ANIMALS ON THE CHATHAM RISE .............................................................................................. 7 Marine mammal habitat utilisation of the crest of the Chatham Rise ........... 9 CONSERVATION SIGNIFICANCE OF MARINE MAMMALS ON THE CHATHAM RISE ............................................................................................. 10 LIKELY IMPACTS OF THE PROPOSED MINING ACTIVITY ON MARINE MAMMALS BASED ON THEIR ABUNDANCE AND HABITAT USAGE ............................................................................................................. 11 Ship strikes .......................................................................................................... 11 Entanglement ....................................................................................................... 12 Noise ..................................................................................................................... 13 Behavioural response ......................................................................................... 15 Human induced changes to marine environment ........................................... 15 Pollution ............................................................................................................... 16 Mitigation effectiveness ...................................................................................... 16 RESPONSE TO SUBMISSIONS ............................................................................... 17 The Crown ............................................................................................................ 17 Ngai Tahu ............................................................................................................. 19 Greenpeace and Deep Sea Conservation Coalition Incorporated ................. 19 ECO ..................................................................................................................... 20 KASM .................................................................................................................... 20 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 21 Page 2 24843608 REFERENCES (CITED IN THIS EVIDENCE) ........................................................... 22 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................ 24 Table 1. Threat Rankings for marine mammal species found across the Chatham Rise (after Baker 2010) ....................................................... 24 Table 2. Vocalisation ranges of whales and dolphins within and near CRP's proposed marine consent area (based on Torres et al. 2013a) ................................................................................................ 24 32. Species Accounts ......................................................................................... 25 Page 3 24843608 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. This evidence describes the distribution patterns of marine mammals over the Chatham Rise. 2. Two data sets of incidental sightings of cetacean species were used to describe their distribution: (a) the Cawthorn dataset of incidental sightings from ships in transit to or from New Zealand ports; and (b) the Department of Conservation (DOC) cetacean sightings data. 3. The data sets provide 137 records of 12 different cetacean species and one species group, the beaked whales, sighted within the study area which consists of an approximately 100 km buffer area of the Chatham Rock Phosphate Ltd (CRP) mining permit area. 4. Most of the sightings of cetaceans within the study area are of sperm whales and pilot whales, which feed along the flanks of the Chatham Rise where they forage along the steep slopes for preferred food species. Various species of dolphins, beaked whales, killer whales, and baleen whales including southern right whales either use the Chatham Rise or transit it during their northward and southward migrations. The southern margin and south eastern end of the Chatham Rise are foraging grounds for southern right whales and beaked whales respectively. 5. The presence of CRP’s mining vessel, as well as fishing vessels, is unlikely to substantially increase the risk of ship strikes on whales or any form of entanglement. 6. Noise displacement, should it occur, should be of short duration, over a small area during the 4-5 day mining period. 7. As rorquals (blue, fin, sei and minke whales) and humpbacks will be in transit when in the vicinity of the Chatham Rise and dolphins feed in the upper part of the water column they are unlikely to be affected by any Page 4 24843608 suspended sediment from the mining operation in the top centre of the Chatham Rise. 8. Mitigation methods should ensure that no mining begins when any whales are within a buffer area around the vessel, and thus the equipment on the seabed. INTRODUCTION Qualifications and experience 9. My full name is Martin William Cawthorn. I am the Managing Director of Cawthorn and Associates. 10. I hold a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours majoring in Zoology. 11. I have had 45 years of specialist marine mammal research experience (whales and seals). During that time I have held the following positions: (a) 1962-66: Technical Officer (Marine Mammals), NZ Marine Department Research Division; (b) 1966-71: Scientist, Whaling Section, Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Arctic Biological Station, Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, Canada; (c) 1976-87: Scientist (Marine Mammals/Deepwater Fisheries), MAF Fisheries Research Division; (d) 1987-92: Senior Scientist (Marine Mammals), Department of Conservation; and (e) 1992: established Cawthorn & Associates, consultants specialising in interactions between marine mammals, static and active fisheries, and marine industrial installations and activities. (f) Adjunct Lecturer, Institute of Veterinary and Biological Studies, Massey University. Page 5 24843608 12. My experience has included work in New Zealand, South West Pacific and Polynesia, Eastern Tropical Pacific, Central and South America, South Atlantic, Southern Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean/Antarctic, Western North Atlantic, Canadian Arctic, and the Norwegian Sea. 13. My specific experience within the New Zealand exclusive economic zone (EEZ) has included establishment and maintenance of a major incidental whale sightings system throughout the Tasman Sea and south west Pacific Ocean from the northern extremity of the New Zealand EEZ to the southern limit. 14. I was resident government biologist at Tory Channel Whaling Station from the latter days of humpback whaling through the entire period of sperm whaling until closure after the 1964-5 season. I organised and conducted aerial and shipboard surveys of sperm whales, including whale marking surveys, around the entire New Zealand coast. I conducted studies of seasonal distribution and movements of all whale species; studies of marine mammal ageing and reproduction; and feeding and dietary studies of sperm whales from the Cook Strait region. I also conducted shipboard and aerial surveys of all cetacean species off the East Coast, surveys across the Chatham Rise to Chatham Island and local waters. 15. I participated in a three year survey of Hector’s dolphins in Clifford and Cloudy Bay, and most recently organised and conducted a 12 month aerial survey of all marine mammals in nearshore waters of the south Taranaki Bight. 16. I have provided consultancy services to Australian, Canadian, Japanese, New Zealand, Norwegian and Tongan government agencies, and most recently to the United Kingdom Government Department of Environment Fisheries and Rural Affairs (2002-3) and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (2008). I have also provided consultancy services to private aquaculture enterprises and participated in resource consent hearings regarding the potential effects on marine mammals of marine farming, marine electricity generation, and iron sand extraction.