11. Marine Protected Areas—PolicyEUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister for the EnvironmentMarine Protected Areas—Policy11. EUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Does he support a target of protecting 30 percent of New Zealand's marine environment including the Exclusive Economic Zone; if not what target does he support?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment): The Government's commitment is to a representative network of marine protected areas covering the full range of biodiversity from New Zealand's subtropical to the sub-Antarctic waters. This is more important than achieving some arbitrary percentage of marine area although I do know this Government has with the inclusion of the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary increased the area of marine protected areas from 0.5 percent to 15 percent.Eugenie Sage: On whose advice did the New Zealand Government delegation to the recent International Union for Conservation of Nature congress refuse to support a motion passed by majority to set aside 30 percent of the marine environment?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: By Ministers.Eugenie Sage: Does he agree with World Wide Fund for Nature New Zealand which called his Government's refusal to support the International Union for the Conservation of Nature motion as being out of step" with marine science and with the 96 percent of Kiwis who want more than a third of New Zealand's environment protected; if not why not?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No I do not agree with that assessment. With 15 percent of New Zealand's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary New Zealand will have a higher proportion of its ocean area in reserve than any country in the world and I note that it would have increased by more than thirtyfold under this John Key - led Government. Scott Simpson: How many marine protected areas has this Government established and in what areas?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: We have established 11 new marine reserves: three in the sub-Antarctic islands five on the West Coast as well as reserves in Kaikōura Akaroa and in North Auckland totalling an area of more than 450000 hectares. That does not include the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary which we intend to have in place by 1 November and which will actually provide for an area of marine protection more than twice the total land area of New Zealand or equivalent to the area of France.Eugenie Sage: Does he still agree with the advice he provided to a Cabinet committee last year that a "key shortcoming" of the Marine Reserves Act is that it "does not provide for marine protection in the vast majority of our ocean environment the EEZ and the continental shelf"; if so why will his proposed bill not fix this key shortcoming?Mr SPEAKER: Either of those two supplementary questions the Hon Dr Nick Smith.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Because the member overlooks the very significant decision by Cabinet to establish one of the largest marine protected areas in the world in the Kermadec Islands which makes up 15 percent of New Zealand's EEZ. In anybody's terms it is a huge contribution by our Government both domestically and internationally to marine protection.David Seymour: Will the establishment of these reserves be accompanied by a reduction in overall fishing quota issue or will they simply displace fishing effort into the remaining parts of the EEZ?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: There is only 20 tonnes currently of fishing in the Kermadec area out of a total fish take per year of 600000 tonnes so the shift in any fishing effort is quite small. The bigger issue is that the price of fish increases as does the technology to be able to fish further away—this is the reason why it makes sense. Just in the same way as our forebears set aside areas like Fiordland and Tongariro on land equally it makes sense for us to set aside this very special part of New Zealand's ocean area.David Seymour: Is the Minister saying that it is OK for the Government to confiscate your property if you are not using it?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No it is not and I recall very specifically at the time when the quota management system was established and when the Māori fisheries settlement was done that the Government made very plain—in fact I personally at the time questioned whether it was proper for the Government to be able to create marine protected areas whether they are the individual transferable quota system or the Māori fisheries settlement and the answer at the time was very clearly yes. That is when the Government set those systems up it quite deliberately continued to allow the Government to create areas of marine protection."