CASE STUDIES Doubtful Sound1 Key issue(s) Management of access to a fragile sensitive remote area with high natural values for wildlife. Management of visitor facilities in a remote constrained physical natural area. Background Doubtful Sound is a collection of sounds and reaches contained in Fiordland National Park, and runs from the Dingwall Mountains to the south west coast of New Zealand. The area most commonly referred to as Doubtful Sound (from east to west) includes Deep Cove, Hall Arm, Malaspina Reach, Patea Passage and Te Awaatu Channel, with the name Doubtful Sound referring to the outer coastal area. The main access to Doubtful Sound is via the Wilmot Pass from Lake Manapouri. While there is road access to the Wilmot Pass from Monowai (south of Manapouri), the most common way to get to the Wilmot Pass is by boat across Lake Manapouri. The Borland Road (linking to Wilmot Pass Road) is maintained by Transpower NZ to allow them to service their electricity transmission lines from the Manapouri power station. There is no obligation on Transpower or the department to maintain the road to a higher standard than that necessary to service the lines, however public access is provided for to the extent that road and weather conditions and Transpower operations allow it. Public access is subject to Transpower maintenance needs, road and weather conditions and other safety requirements. This may mean temporary closure of the road during winter, after heavy snowfall or slips, or access for four wheel drive vehicles only if road conditions make this necessary. Package tours offer day cruises which include the boat trip from Manapouri, bus over the Wilmot Pass, a tour through the Power Station and a catamaran cruise on Doubtful Sound. In the summer there are overnight cruises available as package tours. Both trip types include wildlife viewing (e.g. dolphin, fur seals, penguin) while the overnight trip includes kayaking and shore visits. Several companies offer charters. At least one company has a Marine Mammal Watching permit which allows swimming with seals and dolphins if the opportunity arises. Vehicle use within the park is prohibited by park bylaws anywhere where there is not a formed road, campsite or carpark. This includes use of mountain bikes. Walking access is possible, but there are no major tracks leading to Doubtful Sound. The Spey river track goes from the Borland Road to Dusky Sound. There are no established fixed wing aircraft landing sites in the area, and apart from a designated site at Deep Cove it is unclear as to whether helicopters are able to land other than for deer recovery operations (and possibly Meridian maintenance operations). Southern Lakes Helicopters offer 60 minutes flights over Doubtful Sound and 90 minute flights over Dusky and Doubtful (landing at Dusky Sound and Campbell’s Kingdom). Glacier Southern Lakes Helicopters offers flights from Queenstown over Doubtful and also Milford and Doubtful combined. Air Fiordland offer fixed wing overflights. Fiordland Wilderness experiences run tailored kayaking trips of varying length up to 6 days in Doubtful Sound. Stakeholders ! Department of Conservation ! Tourism Operators and Host Communities ! Regional and District Councils ! Maritime New Zealand ! Commercial Fishing Interests 1 This case study provides an example of the application of some individual tools to specific issues. The case studies are not of themselves examples of a fully integrated approach as they preceded the development of the kete. Links to the individual tools have been added to illustrate how agencies and groups facing similar issues might draw on available tools. Case study Prepared March 2003, updated December 2006. CASE STUDIES Doubtful Sound ! Education Trusts ! Aircraft Operators ! Visitors Tools, models or approaches The land area of Doubtful Sound is managed by the Department of Conservation and the Fiordland National Park Management Plan (Conservation Act Framework ) is the primary instrument for managing tourism and recreation in the Doubtful Sound area and surrounds. The water area of Patea Passage and Doubtful Sound is administered by Environment Southland and managed by the Southland Regional Coastal Plan (Coastal Plans). The ability to control access is a key management tool. The Management Plan recognises that the number of visitors to Doubtful Sound is increasing significantly, and notes that there is already congestion around the Visitor Centre at West Arm, and increasing congestion around the Hostel at Deep Cove. For these reasons the section of the Management Plan that relates to Deep Cove and West Arm is quite prescriptive. Key implementation points regarding the Deep Cove road end area include: ! that it will be managed as a transit site, ! the Deep Cove Outdoor Education Centre will be the only place where accommodation facilities will be permitted unless particular conditions can be met, ! there will be no accommodation for concessionaires and staff though some garages, storage sheds etc. will be permitted, ! no camp sites, ! concessionaires will be limited to 8 return trips over Wilmot Pass per day (one trip may consist of up to 3 coaches in convoy), and coaches are defined as carrying between 12 and 40 people, and ! the total number of visitors in a year will not exceed 50,000. There are also a number of proposed restrictions on new concessions (concessions framework ) and permits. These limits have been developed using a mixture of tools including LAC , biophysical carrying capacity , and crowding management . While the benefits of road access are recognised, roads and other land transport systems can create the following issues: ! Adverse effects on natural and landscape values from construction. ! Fragmentation of ecosystems. ! Provide a corridor for pest infestation. ! A proliferation of ancillary utilities and facilities. ! Changes to the type of public use and displace existing recreational users. The Department of Conservation there is believes that some control over use of Wilmot Pass Road is necessary so that the effects of visitor use at Deep Cove can be managed. The Fiordland National Park Management Plan states that the Department of Conservation will investigate options for the future funding and management of the Wilmot Pass Road, which may include the establishment of a company, trust or some other arrangement to ensure the recreation and tourism opportunities the road provides continue to be available. It is likely that users of the road will be levied in proportion to their use to cover the cost of maintaining the road to these standards (user charges ). Vehicle use within the park is prohibited by park bylaws anywhere where there is not a formed road, campsite or carpark. This includes use of mountain bikes. Walking access is possible, but there are no major tracks leading to Doubtful Sound. The Spey river track goes from the Borland Road to Dusky Sound. The Southland Regional Coastal Plan for Southland provides for the sustainable management of Fiordland and provides direction for Milford Sound/Piopiotahi and Doubtful Sound while identifying the values that need to be protected throughout the other fiords. Environment Southland and the Department of Conservation have been working together to manage the resource consent process (RMA framework ) and commercial vessel activity on the internal waters of the fiords. The process allows both agencies to apply management initiatives across all of the fiords on a case-by-case basis, taking into account potential effects (both positive 2 CASE STUDIES Doubtful Sound and adverse) on the coastal marine area and the potential impacts on the significant values of the neighbouring Fiordland National Park. The Fiordland Marine Conservation Strategy was developed by the Guardians of Fiordland's Fisheries and Marine Environment Inc to manage the Fiordland Marine Area, which includes the waters of Doubtful Sound. The Strategy is enshrined in legislation and in terms of Doubtful Sound the main concerns are with fishing and rubbish removal. Commentary At present a relatively small number of tourism operators are active in Doubtful Sound offering combined bus and boat tours, walking and kayaking trips, and ecology based tours. Other ‘players’ (in addition to the Department of Conservation and the tourist operators) are the fishing industry, the operators of the Hostel (Trust), Meridian Energy and Transpower. However, between 1992 and 2000 the number of visitors increased from approximately 30,000 to 41,000 and problems with crowding are starting to develop. Congestions problems are most evident at Deep Cove where there is a lack of appropriate bus parking areas. There is also a limited number of beaches where boats can land in the Sound and this is starting to cause problems with general rubbish and toilet waste. Researchers are noting pressures on the bottle nose dolphin, who appear to be attracted by ships. Interestingly there is a suspicion that dolphin are more stressed by sea kayaks than larger ships (which they can hear easily). Real Journeys regularly guide tourists to a large resident bottle-nosed dolphin pod and provide informed commentary on this population and the species, acknowledging the large body of research information (Otago University?) on this pod. They appear to observe distance limits between their boats and the pod. The Management Plan foreshadows access for mountain bikes via the Percy Saddle (i.e. the Borland Road) “if a suitable track and associated infrastructure is established. A full assessment of the effects on the natural, historic, cultural, recreational, landscape and amenity values will first need to be undertaken. An audit of the assessment will need to determine that the effects are either acceptable or can be adequately mitigated. Consideration of any such proposal will include full public consultation. For this to occur, the track would have to be identified as a formed road under the National Parks Act”. DoC has a mechanism for controlling numbers of tourists that arrive by road through their requirement that all users of the Wilmot Pass Road should have a permit.