Our Ocean the Heart of the Earth

Today is World Oceans Day.

A staggering 80 percent of all the life on earth is to be found hidden beneath the waves. The ocean is the planet’s heart. Its pulsating currents and tides drive the natural forces which maintain life on our planet. It controls our weather, cleans our atmosphere, and is the source of life-giving freshwater too.

The ocean is full of extraordinary diversity of life. Scientists don’t really know how many marine species there are: estimates range from 500,000 to 100 million. Some are beautiful, some weird, some delicious and some scary; but they are all incredibly important.

And they nourish us, providing us with food. Fish species that we eat provide 3 billion people with at least 15 per cent of their average per capita animal protein intake. In many places, fish is the most important source of animal protein.

But our ocean faces many threats, some growing by the tide.

Scientists tell us our ocean is acidifying. The ocean is absorbing more carbon from the atmosphere because of our growing emissions. The resulting increase in acidity makes it harder for corals and shellfish to create skeletons and shells. This will be devastating: the UN reports that 80% of the world’s coral reefs may die within decades. New Zealand’s Royal Society has warned that our marine life will also be severely affected within decades, impacting on our food supply and jobs.

Overfishing is still taking its toll. Technology has made it easier to find and catch fish: nets can be city-block sized and lines tens of kilometres long, and modern fishing boats are the size of freighters not yachts – in fact, they are mobile fish factories. Unfortunately, our rules to ensure we fish sustainably have not kept pace. This situation is made worse by illegal fishing and under-reporting.

Orange roughy, a deep sea fish living to over 100, have been reduced to just 11% of their original numbers in most areas, and are in long-term decline. Hoki, one of our largest fisheries, are also struggling and are heading the same way as Orange roughy. Despite this, Hoki are certified as sustainable under the international Marine Stewardship Council. Pretending Hoki are sustainable will not serve the fish or the fishing industry well – continued decline will have massive economic and ecological impacts on New Zealand. Some supermarkets refuse to stock our Orange roughy.

You know an industry is hiding something when they produce fancy TV ads to promote their image – as the seafood industry has recently. They are wasting money on greenwash propaganda - money that would be much better spent on research and sustainable practices to ensure their industry remains viable long-term. The industry is gambling with our economy, our jobs, and our food.

Our Fisheries Act is not sustainable because it does not require sustainability, does not apply precaution in the face of uncertainty, relies on unreliable voluntary reporting, and lets the industry challenge every sustainable move in court. Even essential measures to protect our remaining Hectors and Maui dolphins from extinction have been met with court action.

But it is not just the fish we eat at threat. It is also the species and ecosystems that get destroyed in the process of commercial fishing. Techniques like bottom trawling and dredging destroy the seabed in some of the ocean’s most sensitive places. Greenpeace reports that commercial fishing leads to the ‘accidental’ killing of more than 20 million tonnes of marine life like albatrosses, sharks, fur seals and turtles, each year; and nets kill up to 300,000 of the world’s whales, dolphins and porpoises. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Our Fisheries Act fails here too, with the Minister increasing the past season’s sea lion slaughter to 113 animals (many of which will be pregnant mums or mums with hungry pups waiting for them) even when the population of sea lions is known to be in decline.

New Zealand’s ocean area is in better state than many other places, but we must do more if we are to avoid a continued decline in ocean health in our part of the world, and the cost of that to our economy and jobs. Despite our ocean area being more than 15 times larger than our land area, New Zealand’s ocean laws are our weakest environmental protection rules. Activity like mining of seamounts in our outer ocean isn’t protected by any law at all. We have no marine reserves there, and the Bill that would allow this has been blocked by successive Governments.

Sustainability is not a luxury - it is essential to ensure we have a healthy ocean, fish for food, and jobs in the long term. Overfishing now destroys the economy of the future. Killing marine mammals and seabirds unnecessarily puts our ‘clean green brand’ at risk. Nature Magazine assessed New Zealand against the United Nations Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries – we scored just 56%. It’s not good enough.

Our ocean is not “out of sight, out of mind”; it is the backyard, the pantry and a source of pride for all New Zealanders. It is not too late to reverse the decline, and it makes economic sense to do so now. Let’s mark World Oceans Day by committing to strong action on climate change, a good Oceans Policy, and making the Fisheries Act sustainable.

Metiria Turei MP
Green Party Co-leader