French Pass - Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand

March 2010

March brings Sea Week. French Pass Sea Safaris will be showing the film 'Fish for the Future' throughout the week.

A pod of Pilot Whales was sighted off half way point.

Penguins are in moult and susceptible  to  starvation at this time.Two Little Blue Penguins were seen baitballing a small shoal of fish off one of the nearby islands, stunning.

Last month saw several days where two Bottlenose Dolphins spent all day playing and leaping in the bay.

A NZ Falcon has made French Pass its home and can regularly be seen on walks.

Australian Worldwide Exploration Ltd

A notice of appeal has been filed against the Marlborough District Council by friends of Nelson Haven re the consent to drill a test oil well off the bottom of d'Urville Island. Some of the reasons for appeal are a flawed environment assessment report and threat to the Marlborough Sounds only endemic species, the rare King Shag, which has a population of only 645 birds.

January 2010

Saturday the 8th saw the Yamaha Adventure Motorcycle Club, of over 78 bikes, descend on French Pass where they enjoyed a lunch courtesy of French Pass Sea Safaris.

The sailing vessel 'Steadfast' is busy with overnight and day trips in the beautiful surrounds of d'Urville Island. See link.

The DOC camping ground has been popular for campers.

d'Urville Island walks, marine mammal encounters and swims and sportfishing have all been popular with French Pass Sea Safaris. See link.

For an update on dolphins & seabirds see the wildlife report.

Change of Season

December 12th 2009 sees a later change in summer species.  Colder waters have seen a later migration of Kingfish and Snapper to the area. Unsettled weather has bought seabirds, including Giant Petrels, Fairy Prions and Shearwaters within easy view of French Pass.

Pods of Dusky, Common and Bottlenose Dolphins have regularly been seen. Commercial Trawling and recreational fishing pressure has been high throughout Admiralty Bay. Aquaculture continues to impact on dolphins and the food web. The Minister of Fisheries has made no move to be proactive in taking a holistic approach to fisheries management in the outer Marlborough Sounds.

Marlborough District Council have approved the drilling of an exploratory oil well off the coast of d'Urville Island. Statistics show a 1 in 200 chance of a spill. Concern for the marine environment, rare endemic King Shag, marine mammals and seabirds is genuine as questions are being asked about the environmental assessment report being flawed.

A way forward for marine management.

The Science of Marine Reserves. PISCO Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans. A must read paper on marine reserves studied from around the world. Go to www.piscoweb.org  

Mini Theatre Opening 

A New mini theatre is opening on Friday night to showcase local wildlife in high definition. Friday the 20th November will showcase the movie 'End of the Line'. Its all happening at French Pass Sea Safaris & Beachfront Villas.

Visit our Wildlife report for an update on Dolphins, Seals & Seabirds. 

White Dolphin Sighted 

September 2009 a white Bottlenose dolphin has been sighted in the Marlborough Sounds. If you see this dolphin please pass on your sighting to the Department of Conservation. 

 Rare whale makes visit

August 15th 2009 a rare southern right whale made a visit to local bays.

A Wakeup Call 'as important as the global warming debate'.

'Seasick' The hidden ecological crisis of the global ocean by Alanna Mitchell. This newly published book explains about the Ph and health of our oceans. Tim Flannery wrote 'A riveting book of revelations about earth's largest and most important habitat'.

Ocean Acidity a Threat to New Zealand 

(Otago Daily Times 02/02/09) Global warmings evil twin, the increasing acidification of carbon dioxide-saturated oceans is threatening New Zealands corals, crustaceans and shellfish. 'Ocean acidification is accelerating' Dunedins Researcher Christina McGraw said. For more on the ocean and acidification go to http://www.latimes.com/oceans

Schools Visit

February 10th Garin College has arrived for their 2009 school retreat. Approx 50 students are immersing themselves into the natural French Pass environment in what has become one of the schools yearly highlights. Students will be spending time in quiet contemplation, learning to snorkle and swimming with marine mamals as well as reflecting on natures presence. 

Environment Court Hearings February 09

The aquaculture industry are fighting to expand their marine farms in Admiralty Bay. They are wanting to double the width of all the surrounding farms to the detriment of the Dusky Dolphin Population and other wildlife. A&M Texas University has said that the impact is detrimantal to the visiting winter populations of Dusky dolphins. Admiralty Bay is one of few places in the world where Dusky Dolphins change their foraging strategy splitting into small groups and feeding on pilchard through the day. To support the Dusky populations marine farms should be relocated leaving Admiralty Bay in a more natural state free from noise pollution and food web competition. See Wildlife Threats on Video and Resources.

 Seas in crises.

Shining a spotlight on the biodiversity of New Zealand’s marine eco region.

An Experts Workshop on Marine Biodiversity held in May 2003 in Wellington New Zealand by the WWF-New Zealand made this statement.
"We marine scientists of various specialization, recognize New Zealand’s oceanic environment and ecosystems as unique and highly regionalized, with a level of biodiversity of global significance.
A great deal remains unknown about New Zealand’s marine environment; vast regions are unexplored, interactions between species and their environments are not understood, and we lack the expertise to recognize and document many of the components of the biota. Consequently, the capacity to use and manage marine resources, or even identify possible human impacts is limited.
If we New Zealanders are to live in a sustainable relationship with our oceanic environment and benefit  from the use of the marine resources of our EEZ, we need more information.
Our current lack of knowledge is alarming and does not represent a sound basis for reliable policy and management decisions.
We urge immediate action by the Government and other stakeholders to ensure the capacity of relevant institutions to address this situation."

Are we offering too little too late? The government has developed Marine Management Areas. Of these they are looking at 10% of which only a small proportion will be no take. WWF talk of 35% to 40% areas of no take to rebuild a fishery.

As a starting point we need to be looking at 10% minimum no take and build the other restrictions on top of that. We are now in 2008 5 yrs after the concerns addressed above and still have only one tiny marine reserve ‘no take area’ in the Marlborough Sounds.

The Unnatural History of the Sea
This book makes for compelling reading. The past and future of humanity and fishing by Professor Callum Roberts. Will fish and chips be off the menu for our grandchildren? Will global fish stocks really collapse within the next 50 years? Eloquent and inspiring with a way forward for our oceans. Frenchpass.com recomend this book as a must read.

Blue Penguins
Watch for Blue Penguins when boating. Sometimes they are hard to see and can't get out of the way quick enough from a fast boat. We are losing our specie range at an alarming rate with three quarters of our remaining bird life now threatened. (See NZ biodiversity strategy).

Pied Shag
When fishing in the French Pass area take care not to catch shags on your line as they will come to the boat looking for fish. The best way is to move the boat slowly towards them on the water to chase them off if they become too aggressive for fish.

Crayfish
New research shows that size does matter. When a female crayfish has her eggs fertilized by a large buck all eggs get fertilized. When she is fertilized by a smaller buck only partial fertilization is achieved and the following year her ovaries will reduce in size only producing half the amount of eggs. This leads to a decline in eggs being produced ultimately leading to a decline in crayfish numbers. Looks like we need to change our regulations to accommodate the specie by protecting marine areas with ‘no take’.

Blue Cod
Surveys show blue cod are in decline at an alarming rate. Again this shows that habitat needs to be protected to allow the fish to recover. See eco-system based management under resources.

The inner Sounds have been closed off to Blue Cod fishing but this is putting more pressure on the outer Sounds which has not been given any added protection. If we are serious about our fishery we need to close a min of 35% to all forms of take and create a network of marine reserves. See 'The unnatural history of the sea'.

Traditional Sail
Steadfast, a beautiful, big, 45 ton, gaff cutter is now operating from French Pass. Beautifully crafted with natural woods and polished finish, Steadfast makes for a wonderful traditional sailing experience. Book at www.seasafaris.co.nz

Short Film
A short film ‘French Pass nature’s presence’ is now available from French Pass Sea Safaris. A compelling video on the local marine life taken at night, seabirds and marine mammals and the need for urgent action for eco-system based management. This can also be purchased on line at www.seasafaris.co.nz