Damage to the Sea Floor

As stated in our article on Aquaculture, there is an urgent need to have scientific research carried out on the effects of mussel farming in the Marlborough Sounds, before any further licenses are granted. In the absence of this research it is left to lay-persons to do the best they can to assess the situation as they see it. This article is just such an attempt to assess the damage being done to the sea bed under the mussel farms, which we see as only one of the negative effects of mussel farming. Because the effects can easily be seen, we feel that the lay-person can form an opinion on this area of concern.

The following photo taken somewhere in the Marlborough Sounds, is taken well away from the mussel farms, and the sea bed is uncluttered and sandy with a rich diversity of sea life, including tubeworms, sponges, sea squirts, sea cucumber, sea urchins and a variety of sea shells.

This next photo shows the first 2 to 3 metres of a mussel line. As you can see, there is a rich diversity of creatures habiting this section of the line, little of which is commercially attractive.

The following photograph is taken under a mussel farm some time after harvesting of a row or rows of mussel lines. It is the harvesters practice to dump the first 2 to3 metres of the line, as a diversity of species habits this region which gets more of the suns light, (a lay person’s assumption). As you can see, these creatures sit on the seabed and are a rich source of protein that does not occur naturally.

This unnatural source of protein has attracted the voracious Eleven Armed Starfish, which is quick to exploit the situation. These starfish were not at all prolific before the advent of the mussel farms, but are now in evidence in plague proportions in and around the mussel farms.

The next photograph shows an area under a mussel farm some time after the predation of the Eleven Armed Starfish, and shows “shells and shit”, described by the experts as “shells, faeces and pseudofaeces”. There is a total lack of anything living, let alone biodiversity, but the most frightening question is; where have the Eleven Armed Starfish gone, and what are they now feeding on? Scallops? In the absence of mussel harvest droppings our endangered species are sure to be more endangered, (once again a lay-persons opinion).

If the problems outlined in this article are not addressed by the industry the future of this beautiful area of New Zealand is doomed to become predominantly a commercial area, as attractive as any other industrial site. Is that what the population of New Zealand and the rest of the world are going to settle for?