Alison Hossain. Photo: RNZ
The Environmental Defence Society is calling for more education on marine protection to be included in the school curriculum.
Whilst it welcomes the Government's record number of marine reserves this year, it says this should be done in conjunction with teaching children more about the marine environment.
Children on Rakiura Stewart Island say living on the doorstep of a marine reserve is enhancing their education.
Pupils at Halfmoon Bay Primary School say they are getting the benefit of living so close to the Paterson Inlet marine reserve.
Year eight student Marley Wright says it's giving them a huge advantage over kids in other parts of New Zealand.
Half Moon Bay, Ulva Island. Photo: RNZ
"Every now and then we'll do a beach clean-up, like we've done one at Big Glory Bay. Also we sometimes go out on school trips where we go out on boats or go for a nature walk or go on to Ulva Island. We probably know a lot more than kids in town do, just because we've been brought up in this place."
The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) is calling for more education in marine protection to be included in the curriculum.
Whilst it welcomes the Government's record number of marine reserves this year, it says this should be done in conjunction with teaching children more about the marine environment.
EDS policy director Raewyn Peart says she believes it's time to protect the marine environment for future generations.
"I would like to see us engaging our young New Zealanders in those areas, so they can really see what is possible. I would like to see us leaving a legacy for our future generations. Most of the impact on our marine area in fact has been during my lifetime, in the last fifty years. Many of us baby-boomers can remember what the marine area was like fifty years ago. It was abundant with life, all kinds of fish that you would see commonly, shoals of fish. I really want my daughter, our children, our future generations, to be able to experience that and so I think it's up to our generation to really be leaving that legacy for the future."
A DoC diver takes samples from a kelp forest in Ulva Island Marine Reserve which is home to more varieties of seaweed that anywhere else in the country. Photo: Vincent Zintzen
Marine reserves will cost fishing industry
Not everyone is so keen on the Government's pledge to create a record number of marine reserves this year.
Commercial fishers say the record number of marine reserves this year could affect their livelihoods.
As the Government announces its largest ever reserve off the coast of Kaikoura, it's been calculated this will cost the fishing industry there about $1.1 million per year.
Conservation Minister Nick Smith insists this factor was considered at length, but the advantages to Kaikoura's multi-million dollar tourism industry, outweighed this loss.
Nick Smith. Photo: NATIONAL PARTY
"Whale watching, swimming with the dolphins, the recreational fishing, is actually more valuable to that community quite apart from the broader esoteric conservation gain. Equally so, there is not a pure loss to the fishing industry. If we look at marine reserves that we've created, they are nurseries, and they do have benefits for the wider fishery."
Every marine reserve which is created adds more restrictions to commercial fishing, one of New Zealand's key primary industries.
Chief executive of the Southern Inshore Fisheries Management Company and committee member of the New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen, Carol Scott, questions whether this potential loss of income is a step too far.
"It is an awful lot of money and I think we need to look at the area itself and given the size of the reserve, is it really manageable? We need to really weigh up the cost benefit of putting that in against the other users of the area. I know there's a big tourism value and I think before the decision is made we have to make sure nobody really loses out. It certainly it is a fantastic canyon but let's make sure the closure is there for the right principles."
The Conservation Minister already has five reserves nearing the go ahead on the West Coast as well as one for Akaroa, and a forum is underway to set up marine protection on the Otago coastline.
Nick Smith says it's a chance for New Zealand to reassert itself as world-leader in marine protection.
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