Oceans 20/20

Good evening everyone. Thank you to both NIWA and the Navy for making Tangaroa and Resolution available for this launch and for giving us an insight into the valuable work that takes place on these vessels.

The vastness and complexity of the ocean area over which New Zealand has jurisdiction is amazing. Our exclusive economic zone is 18 times greater than our land area. And that area will grow when our rights to an additional area of continental shelf are confirmed.

We are a maritime people. The sea dominates New Zealand's climate, life and economy. Our exports and imports are all transported on or over the sea and the bounty of the sea makes a major contribution to our economy, in fish, shellfish and minerals as diverse as oil, gas and ironsand.

But our knowledge of the ocean around us is not as well developed as we would like it to be. And that is not to diminish the efforts of many of the people here today and those who have worked to increase New Zealand’s ocean knowledge.

All around the planet we are learning that, despite the apparent vastness of the oceans, humans can do seriously detrimental things to them. We need better knowledge to understand and manage human impacts on the world’s oceans.

Understanding our ocean environment is a technically difficult challenge. From ships like the one we’re on and Tangaroa, we use increasingly sophisticated technologies to understand what is down there. This may seem like a reasonably significant vessel in the safe confines of Wellington Harbour, but any vessel, no matter how substantial, is dwarfed by the immensity of the southern ocean and southwest Pacific Ocean – our back yard.

The technologies now available are enabling much better pictures, literally, of what is down there. We can map the features on the seabed much more accurately. Recently I understand scientists on board Tangaroa continued an exploration programme along the Kermadec Arc, discovering along the way an undersea volcano the size of Wellington harbour.

And just to the south of here, in Cook Strait, the multi-beam mapping equipment on Tangaroa has revealed an underwater slip that, at some stage of our country’s past, would have been big enough to cause a tsunami. I’m sure none of us needs reminding about the importance of understanding the causes and effects of tsunami.

Many exploratory voyages result in the discovery of new species, together with new questions to be asked and the possibilities of new economic opportunities. Some of the weird and wonderful creatures that can be found in our ocean are set out in front of me.

There has been a huge increase in the income New Zealand generates from the oceans over the last two decades, largely as a result of the establishment of the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and the development of aquaculture. There is potential for much greater increases in wealth from the oceans, especially as the area New Zealand has control over increases in the future to the edge of the continental shelf.

Future possibilities for new wealth that could be derived from the oceans are diverse. These opportunities could be in the biotechnology area; new species yet to be discovered could provide routes to novel substances. Or the microbiological community under the sea could provide new opportunities for a range of industrial and pharmaceutical processes. The mineral wealth could also provide considerable opportunities. And of course there are the fisheries, both in terms of wild fisheries and aquaculture.

Across the economy we spend around $60 million per year on marine research. This research has generated important knowledge that is providing a range of benefits. Research into understanding oceanic nutrient processes, for instance, has helped with the development of the shore-based aquaculture industry.

With the potential of our seas waiting to be unlocked but needing much better information to do so in a sustainable way, I’m very pleased now to hand over to my colleague, Pete Hodgson, to introduce the concepts and drivers behind the Ocean Survey 20/20 project.