Gulf Harbour Marina: Baseline survey for non-indenous marine species. Inglis, G. J., Gust, N., Fitridge, I., Floerl, O., Hayden, B. J., & Fenwick, G. D. Technical Report NIWA, Christchurch, September, 2005.
Gulf Harbour Marina: Baseline survey for non-indenous marine species [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Executive Summary This report describes the results of an April 2003 survey to provide a baseline inventory of native, non indigenous and cryptogenic marine species within the Gulf Harbour Marina. • The survey is part of a nationwide investigation of native and non-native marine biodiversity in 13 international shipping ports and three marinas of first entry for yachts entering New Zealand from overseas. • Sampling methods used in these surveys were based on protocols developed by the Australian Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests (CRIMP) for baseline surveys of non-indigenous species in ports. Modifications were made to the CRIMP protocols for use in New Zealand port conditions. • A wide range of sampling techniques was used to collect marine organisms from habitats within the Gulf Harbour Marina. Fouling assemblages were scraped from hard substrata by divers, benthic assemblages were sampled using a sled and benthic grabs, and a gravity corer was used to sample for dinoflagellate cysts. Mobile predators and scavengers were sampled using baited fish, crab, starfish and shrimp traps. • The distribution of sampling effort in the Gulf Harbour Marina was designed to maximise the chances of detecting non-indigenous species and concentrated on high-risk locations and habitats where non-indigenous species were most likely to be found. • Organisms collected during the survey were sent to local and international taxonomicexperts for identification. • A total of 124 species or higher taxa were identified from the Gulf Harbour Marinasurvey. They consisted of 78 native species, 15 non-indigenous species, 12 cryptogenic species (those whose geographic origins are uncertain) and 19 species indeterminata (taxa for which there is insufficient taxonomic or systematic information available to allow identification to species level). • The 15 non-indigenous organisms described from the Gulf Harbour Marina included representatives of seven phyla. The non-indigenous species detected (ordered alphabetically by phylum, class, order, family, genus and species) were: (Annelida) Hydroides elegans and Hydroides ezoensis, (Bryozoa) Bugula neritina, Schizoporella errata, Zoobotryon verticillatum, and Watersipora subtorquata, (Crustacea) Apocorophium acutum and Ericthonius pugnax, (Mollusca) Crassostrea gigas, Limaria orientalis, and Theora lubrica, (Phycophyta) Cutleria multifida, (Porifera) Vosmaeropsis cf macera, (Urochordata) Ascidiella aspersa and Cnemidocarpa sp. Two of these species (the fouling serpulid polychaete, Hydroides ezoensis, and the ascidian, Cnemidocarpa sp.) had not previously been reported from New Zealand waters. Two cryptogenic species (an amphipod, Leucothoe sp. 1, and an ascidian, Microcosmus squamiger) were also recorded for the first time from New Zealand. • None of the species found in the Gulf Harbour Marina appear on the New Zealand register of unwanted organisms. Two species – the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, and the cryptogenic, toxin-producing dinoflagellate, Gymnodinium catenatum – are on the ABWMAC list of unwanted marine pests in Australia. • Most non-indigenous species located in the Port are likely to have been introduced to New Zealand accidentally by international shipping. Approximately 66.7 % (10 of 15 species) of NIS in the Gulf Harbour Marina are likely to have been introduced in hull fouling assemblages, 6.7 % via ballast water and 26.7 % could have been introduced by either ballast water or hull fouling vectors. • The predominance of hull fouling species in the introduced biota of the Gulf Harbour Marina (as opposed to ballast water introductions) is consistent with findings from similar port baseline studies overseas.

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