What do Councils need to know about the new EIANZ Marine Values Guidelines?
30 October 2024
Written by Sharon De Luca and Tommaso Alestra
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Dr Sharon De Luca and Dr Tommaso Alestra, co-authors of the ‘Assigning Ecological Value to Marine Benthic Habitats’ Addendum to the EIANZ Guidelines, explain how Councils will be affected.
In 2015 the EIANZ (Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand) published ‘Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA): EIANZ guidelines for use in New Zealand: terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems’ and followed this with a second edition in 2018.
Addendum Module 1 to these Guidelines, ‘Assigning Ecological Value to Marine Benthic Habitats’ introduces marine ecosystems to the Ecological Impact Assessment.
Why are these new guidelines necessary?
Given that Aotearoa New Zealand is an island nation, with 15,000 km of coastline, marine habitat was a notable omission from the Ecological Impact Assessment Guidelines published in 2015 and 2018, which dealt only with terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.
This new module ‘Assigning Ecological Value to Marine Benthic Habitats’ is broadly similar in form to the ecological values assessment framework for terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems; the new marine ecology module provides a list of ecosystem characteristics to consider when assessing ecological values ranging from Negligible to Very High values, which then feeds into an ecological impact assessment on these marine ecology values.
Having these guidelines in place will ensure marine assessments are being consistently approached in a clearly understandable and repeatable manner.
How were these Guidelines developed?
This module was largely prepared by Dr Sharon De Luca and Dr Tommaso Alestra (Boffa Miskell marine ecologists) and a number of Tonkin & Taylor Ltd. ecologists, along with input from several external reviewers.
We initially reviewed available relevant marine habitat classification systems, and existing relevant reports, and summarised the key attributes to a list of broad-scale and fine-scale characteristics that could be considered in a marine ecology assessment. Early on in the process of developing the Marine Values Guidelines we involved, and consulted with, a group of marine ecologists from a variety of organisations (not just consultancies).
Our draft guidelines were further improved by the expert reviews of our colleagues at Tonkin & Taylor. After preparing a set of attributes and characteristics for both soft shore and hard/rocky shore habitats, we had independent and anonymous peer reviews undertaken by New Zealand marine ecology experts identified by EIANZ.
We understand the list of attributes involves a great deal more than may be necessary for all marine ecological assessment projects, but we see the attributes as a solid starting point to consider for any assessment. The Marine Values Guidelines are available to guide not only consultant marine ecologists, but also Councils assessing marine ecological reports and undertaking monitoring.
How might the Marine Values Guidelines benefit local and regional Councils?
Although a wide range of metrics and measures are used in the assessment of marine ecosystems, until now there has been no unifying set of attributes used to assign ecological values. The Marine Values Guidelines move marine ecosystems into a framework that will guide consistency in assessments, rather than relying solely on individual interpretation /expert opinion.
An agreed-to set of attributes and values for marine ecologists across New Zealand to refer to will help assure Councils and Resource Management commissioners that marine assessments are being consistently approached in a clearly understandable and repeatable manner.
We reiterate that the Marine Values Guidelines is an addendum to the EIANZ EcIA, which provides the framework for ecological impact assessments. These Guidelines sit alongside, and do not replace, expert marine opinion and experience. Rather, the Guidelines work best hand-in-hand with expert opinion whilst providing a robust framework to provide for consistency in assessments carried out by consulting marine ecologists. Having this over-arching set of Guidelines makes sense, as the coastline and marine ecosystems – like freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems – are shared across multiple council regions.
We anticipate that aspects of these Marine Values Guidelines will likely evolve over time, as the guidelines for assessing freshwater and terrestrial ecological values have done, in response to changes in the wider environment and increased knowledge on the part of ecologists. We consider Addendum Module 1 (2024) to be a solid starting point, and a long-needed addition to the practice of marine ecological assessments.
Read the EIANZ Guidelines, and the Marine Values Guidelines on the EIANZ website here