Sites and habitats of significance within the Waikato region’s coastal marine area

Report: TR 2019/21

Authors: D.R. Thompson, C.J. Lundquist, W.A. Nelson, S. Nodder, M.P. Francis, K. Hupman, S. Watson, S. Woelz (NIWA)

Waikato Regional Council contracted NIWA to identify significant sites and habitats within the Waikato region's coastal marine area (CMA), spanning the coastal fringe beyond the mean high water springs mark out to the 12 nautical mile limit. Significance was conferred to a site or habitat if one or more of 11 criteria set out in the Regional Policy Statement was triggered.

One criterion covers sites already identified as significant and recommended for the protection of biodiversity, nine criteria cover ecological values, and the remaining criterion covers a site's or habitat's role in protecting an ecologically significant area. One criterion overlapped directly with two criteria in the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS) regarding protected threatened taxa.

This assessment of significant sites and habitats will inform the inclusion of such sites and habitats in the next iteration of the Waikato Regional Coastal Plan.