3 News New Zealand
9 January 2014
New research shows there are about seven times more crayfish and 40 times more blue cod of legal catch size within a Tasman Bay marine reserve than in nearby coastal areas.
Conservation Minister Nick Smith has released the research carried out for the Department of Conservation at the Tonga Island marine reserve on the coastline of Abel Tasman National Park and at the Horoirangi marine reserve north of Nelson.
Twenty years after the 1835-hectare Tonga Island reserve was created, blue cod over 30cm long are 40 times more abundant in the reserve than at nearby control sites.
Shallow lobsters are eight times more abundant and deep lobsters 6.8 times more abundant in the reserve than in the control sites.