Sage Eugenie: Subantarctic Islands Marine Reserves Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSage Eugenie: Subantarctic Islands Marine Reserves Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 04 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7130. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]EUGENIE SAGE (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): I will ring the bell with 1 minute to go.EUGENIE SAGE: Thank you. I am pleased to take a short call on the Subantarctic Islands Marine Reserves Bill which the Green Party will be supporting. Certainly the heavy seas and the strong winds that Wellington has been experiencing this morning give an insight into the conditions that prevail on these islands though I suspect that the wind-chill factor there is likely to be much higher. I have never had the privilege of visiting the Subantarctic Islands but would certainly welcome the suggestion of the chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee Nicky Wagner that we go down to the Antipodes Islands Bounty Islands or Campbell Island groups. They are some of our wildest and most remote places and they are some of our least modified and most natural environments remaining in New Zealand. Certainly they are a nirvana for nature photographers. They have got dramatic sea cliffs and luxuriant mega-herbs and then you get species like the albatross nesting amongst the tussock. It was certainly a major achievement in 2001 to 2005 when the Department of Conservation undertook the largest rat eradication project in the world and cleared Campbell Island of rats. There has been a major improvement in the health of the flora since then.It was the universal value of the Subantarctic Islands—the Antipodes Islands Bounty Islands Campbell Island and Auckland Islands—that was recognised when they were listed for World Heritage status in 1998. That listing included all of the territorial seas around the islands but it is only the territorial seas of the Auckland Islands that have been protected since 2003. So this bill is very welcome because it is an initiative to put in place our World Heritage obligations to protect the territorial seas around three others of the islands. It is certainly a big improvement on the lack of protection around those other groups the Antipodes Islands the Bounty Islands and Campbell Island.Certainly in terms of the Antipodes Islands all of the 12 nautical mile territorial sea would be protected as a reserve and that is an excellent result for conservation. But around the Bounty Islands only 58 percent of the territorial sea will be protected though there will certainly be initiatives under the Fisheries Act to prohibit Danish seine fishing. Around Campbell Island it is only around 39 percent of the territorial waters and as Gareth Hughes noted we are disappointed that that crab fishery is to be allowed given that it is not even in existence yet. That is a shortcoming in the bill.I would just like to talk about the collaborative process that resulted in the recommendations to the Government. It was out of the Subantarctic Islands Marine Protection Planning Forum which had representation from all of the stakeholders—commercial fishers environmental interests and others—and the conservation interests on that stakeholder group certainly sought to have a much larger area protected. As a member of the select committee I look forward to their submissions making the case that the boundaries of the reserves that will be established in this bill should be extended.But the Government has really dropped the ball on marine protection apart from this initiative. The Subantarctic forum was established under the former Government and we had the Marine Protected Areas Policy which was a joint initiative between the Ministry of Fisheries and the Department of Conservation in 2006. That was supposed to govern these collaborative forums set up around the country and the only ones wehave seen have been the Subantarctic one and the West Coast one. Having been a member of the West Coast Marine Protection Forum I know that these forums are an excellent initiative to get away from the hostility that you get and the attacks on reserve proposals that proceed on a one-off basis. Getting all the stakeholders around the table means that you can have a good discussion. Yet there have been no new collaborative forums established subsequent to the West Coast and the Subantarctic ones. That is really disappointing. We keep hearing that a new marine reserves bill will come in next year. That is definitely needed but we keep hearing “next year” without the bill being introduced.Certainly the Green Party supports this bill. It is a very valuable initiative in marine conservation but we need more comprehensive initiatives to protect representative areas across our territorial sea and in the exclusive economic zone. Thank you.Bill read a first time.Billreferred to the Local Government and Environment Committee.