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New Zealanders’ views on threats and protection in the marine environment:

Results of a Colmar Brunton national survey

WWF-New Zealand

March 2005

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Published by:

WWF-New ZealandPO Box 6237Wellington New Zealand

T: (64) 4 499 2930F: (64) 4 499 2954E: info@wwf.org.nz W: www.wwf.org.nz

ISBN 0-9582592-4-0© 2005 WWF-New Zealand

This publication should be cited as follows:

WWF-New Zealand. 2005. New Zealanders’ views on threats and protection in the marine environment: Results of a Colmar Brunton national survey. WWF-New Zealand, Wellington.

This report contains some of the key findings of the survey, reported in the order the questions were asked. WWF-New Zealand welcomes enquiries about the full results; Please contact Chris Howe or Allison Arnold at WWF-New Zealand.

® WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund) Registered Trademark

Conditions of use: Reproduction, adaptation, or issuing of this publication, by electronic or any other means, for re-sale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without the prior permission of the copyright holder(s).

Reproduction, adaptation, or issuing of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes, by electronic or any other means, is authorised without prior permission of the copyright holder(s).

Any reproduction in full or in part of this publication must credit WWF-New Zealand as the copyright owner and include either this page in full, or the full title and these conditions of use.

WWF is one of the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organisations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries.

WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:

- conserving the world’s biological diversity

- ensuring that the use of renewable nature resources is sustainable

- promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption

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Data collected on Colmar Brunton’s CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing) omnibus.

1,001 interviews with New Zealanders aged 15+.

People randomly selected to take part. Phone numbers are randomly generated using a computer based process and then within the household the person with the next birthday is selected.

Interviews conducted on weekday evenings and in the weekends from the 10th to 21st of February, 2005.

Quotas for region.

Final data weighted by age and sex.

Quotas and weighting ensure that overall survey results are representative of the New Zealand population aged 15+.

The poll has a maximum error margin of +/- 3.1 per cent.

Method

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Optimism about the future of NZ’s marine environment “Please tell me how optimistic or pessimistic you feel about the future ecological health of New Zealand’s marine environment over the next 10 years? By ‘marine environment’ I mean the sea and the life it contains from the shore out to the 200 nautical mile boundary that is governed by New Zealand. Are you . . . very optimistic, quite optimistic, neither optimistic nor pessimistic, quite pessimistic, very pessimistic?”

19%

22%

36%

8%

8% 7%

Base: All respondents (n=1,001).

Very optimistic

Quite optimistic

Quite pessimistic

Very pessimisticDon’t know

Neither / nor

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Profile of those who are optimistic** about the future of NZ’s marine

environment – area, ethnicity, and fished in last 12 months

43%

46%

43%

43%

45%

53%

42%

43%

41%

46%

40%

47%

44%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Not fished

Fished

NZer

European

Asian

Pacific Island

Maori

Small town/rural

Provincial cities*

Christchurch

Wellington

Auckland

Population

Sample size in each group > 50, except for Pacific Island people (n=31), Asian people (n=48).*Provincial cities include: Dunedin, Gisborne, Hamilton, HBC, Invercargill, Hastings, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Tauranga, Te Awamutu, Wanganui, Whangarei. ** ‘Optimistic’ means those people who said they were either very optimistic or quite optimistic.

Area

Ethnicity

Fished in last 12 mths

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Marine Reserves: Do NZers know the % of NZ’s marine environment that is protected?“Marine reserves allow for the following activities: research, swimming, diving, and boating, while not allowing activities such as oil drilling, mining, commercial fishing, recreational fishing, or collecting. Do you know what percentage of New Zealand’s marine environment is currently protected by marine reserves?”

Base: All respondents (n=1,001).

89%

11%

Yes, know what % protected

No, don’t know what %

protected

• On average believe 14.5% of marine environment protected.

• Half of these people (49.8%) believe that less than 10% of NZ’s marine environment is currently protected.

• A quarter of these people (25.6%) believe less than 5% of NZ’s marine environment is currently protected.

• On average believe 24.8% of marine environment protected.

• 15% of these people believe less than 5% of NZ’s marine environment is currently protected.

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Percentage of marine environment NZers think is protected“What percentage is it?”, “What would you guess that the percentage might be?”

6%

4% 4%

2%1%

11%

0%1% 1%

0%

13%

5%

15%

11%

7%

10%

5%

2%3%

0% 1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 to15

16 to20

21 to30

31 to40

41 to50

51 to60

61 to70

71 to80

81 to90

91 to100

Base: All respondents, excluding don’t know (n=878).

90% of New Zealanders over-estimate the percentage of NZ’s marine environment that is protected.

Measures of central tendency:• Average = 23.14• Median = 20• Mode = 20

Percentage of marine environment think protected

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25.6

19.1

21.1

22.4

37.4

30.4

28.1

25.4

19.6

21.7

21.6

26.4

23.1

0 20 40 60

Not fished

Fished

NZer

European

Asian

Pacific Island

Maori

Small town/rural

Provincial cities*

Christchurch

Wellington

Auckland

Population

Sample size in each group > 50, except for Pacific Island people (n=31), Asian people (n=48).*Provincial cities include: Dunedin, Gisborne, Hamilton, HBC, Invercargill, Hastings, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Tauranga, Te Awamutu, Wanganui, Whangarei.

Area

Average percentage of marine environment each demographic group

thinks is protected – area, ethnicity, and fished in last 12 months

Average percentage of marine environment think is protected

Ethnicity

Fished in last 12 mths

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Percentage of marine environment NZers think should be protected“Less than 1% of New Zealand’s marine environment is currently protected in marine reserves. What percentage do you believe should be protected?”

2%3%

1%0% 0%

7%

0% 1% 0%

17%

3%

10%11%

5%

17%

4%2%

5%

1%

10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 to15

16 to20

21 to30

31 to40

41 to50

51 to60

61 to70

71 to80

81 to90

91 to100

Base: All respondents, excluding don’t know (n=927).

Measures of central tendency:• Average = 36.46• Median = 30• Mode = 10

People who had been fishing in the last 12months, on average, thought 30% should be protected, while people hadn’t been fishing thought 39% should be protected.

95% of New Zealanders think a greater percentage of New Zealand’s marine environment should be protected.

Percentage of marine environment should be protected

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39.2

30.4

33.9

34.5

45.7

40.4

52.0

37.7

35.0

36.8

33.2

37.4

36.5

0 20 40 60

Not fished

Fished

NZer

European

Asian

Pacific Island

Maori

Small town/rural

Provincial cities*

Christchurch

Wellington

Auckland

Population

Sample size in each group > 50, except for Pacific Island people (n=31), Asian people (n=48).*Provincial cities include: Dunedin, Gisborne, Hamilton, HBC, Invercargill, Hastings, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Tauranga, Te Awamutu, Wanganui, Whangarei.

Area

Average percentage of marine environment each demographic group

thinks should be protected – area, ethnicity, and fished in last 12 months

Average percentage of marine environment think should be protected

Ethnicity

Fished in last 12 mths

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Attitude towards marine reserves“When an area is protected by becoming a marine reserve, this means that people who are currently using the area will have to stop activities such as commercial and recreational fishing, collecting and dredging. Do you think it is reasonable that this happens?”

Base: All respondents (n=1,001).

30%

13%

8%3%

46%

Definitely yes

Probably yes

Definitely no

Probably no

Don’t know

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Profile of those who agree** definition of marine reserves is reasonable –

area, ethnicity, and fished in last 12 months

76%

76%

77%

77%

74%

60%

73%

66%

80%

75%

78%

81%

76%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Not fished

Fished

NZer

European

Asian

Pacific Island

Maori

Small town/rural

Provincial cities*

Christchurch

Wellington

Auckland

Population

Ethnicity

*Provincial cities include: Dunedin, Gisborne, Hamilton, HBC, Invercargill, Hastings, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Tauranga, Te Awamutu, Wanganui, Whangarei. ** Definitely yes or probably yes.Sample size in each group > 50, except for Pacific Island people (n=31), Asian people (n=48).

Fished in last 12 mths

Area

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Threats: Is NZ’s marine environment under threat? “Do you think that overall New Zealand’s marine environment is under threat?” “What do you think the level of threat is? Very high, quite high, moderate, quite low, very low.”

34%

22%

1%

22%

5%16%

Base: All respondents (n=1,001).

Very high

Quite high

Moderate

Quite low

No threat

Don’t know

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Profile of those who think NZ’s marine environment is under

threat** – area, ethnicity, and fished in last 12 months

48%

53%

52%

49%

33%

44%

55%

52%

50%

47%

52%

46%

50%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Not fished

Fished

NZer

European

Asian

Pacific Island

Maori

Small town/rural

Provincial cities*

Christchurch

Wellington

Auckland

Population

Sample size in each group > 50, except for Pacific Island people (n=31), Asian people (n=48).*Provincial cities include: Dunedin, Gisborne, Hamilton, HBC, Invercargill, Hastings, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Tauranga, Te Awamutu, Wanganui, Whangarei. ** ‘Under threat’ means those people who said the level of threat was very high or quite high.

Area

Ethnicity

Fished in last 12 mths

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Top threats to NZ’s marine environment“What do you think are the top two or three threats to the marine environment?”

5%

7%

1%

1%

1%

1%

3%

4%

4%

10%

10%

12%

22%

63%

67%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Don't know

Others

Lack of mgmt

Maori rights

Recreational craft

Dredging

People (unspecified influence)

Non-native plants/animals

Tourism

Climate change

Shipping

Agricultural run-off

Recreational fishing

Pollution/chemicals

Commercial fishing

Base: Those who think NZ’s marine environment is under any kind of threat (n=754).

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Threat of specific aspects to NZ’s marine environment“And specifically for each of the aspects I will read out, what do you think is its threat to New Zealand’s marine environment? Would you say it is very high, quite high, moderate, quite low, very low or not a threat at all?”

4

4

9

10

12

15

25

30

13

17

24

25

28

32

38

39

39

37

40

34

34

34

27

24

23

22

14

15

11

10

4

4

11

8

5

6

4

3

2

1

8

8

3

3

5

1

2

1

2

4

5

7

6

5

2

1

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Recreational fishing

Tourism

Shipping

Non-native marine plants andanimals

Climate change

Agricultural run-off

Commercial fishing

Pollution

Very high Quite high Moderate Quite low Very low Not a threat at all Don't know

Base: All respondents (n=1,001).