Port of Gisborne: 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, March, 2006.
Port of Gisborne: Baseline survey for non-indenous marine species [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Executive Summary This report describes the results of a January 2003 survey to provide a baseline inventory of native, non-indigenous and cryptogenic marine species within the Port of Gisborne. • 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 Port of Gisborne. 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 Port of Gisborne 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 taxonomic experts for identification. • A total of 205 species or higher taxa were identified from the Gisborne Port survey. They consisted of 130 native species, 14 non-indigenous species, 17 cryptogenic species (those whose geographic origins are uncertain) and 44 species indeterminata (taxa for which there is insufficient taxonomic or systematic information available to allow identification to species level). • The 14 non-indigenous organisms described from the Port of Gisborne included representatives of six phyla. The non-indigenous species detected (ordered alphabetically by phylum, class, order, family, genus and species) were: (Annelida) Euchone limnicola and Pseudopolydora paucibranchiata, (Bryozoa) Bugula neritina, Tricellaria inopinata, Cryptosula pallasiana, Celleporaria noduosa and Watersipora subtorquata, (Crustacea) Monocorophium acherusicum and Cancer amphioetus, (Mollusca) Theora lubrica and Polycera hedgpethi, (Phycophyta) Undaria pinnatifida, (Urochordata) Ascidiella aspersa and Cnemidocarpa sp. Three of these species - the bryozoan Celleporaria nodulosa, the crab Cancer amphioetus, and the ascidian Cnemidocarpa sp. - had not previously been described from New Zealand waters. • Four species of sponge (Dysidea n. sp. 1, Euryspongia n. sp. 2, Halichondria n. sp. 1, Haliclona n. sp. 10), an isopod (Cirolana sp. nova), and a pycnogonid (?Tanystylum sp. nov. B) found in the Port of Gisborne did not match existing species descriptions from New Zealand or overseas and may be new to science. • The only species from the Port of Gisborne on the New Zealand register of unwanted organisms is the Asian kelp, Undaria pinnatifida. This alga is known to now have a wide distribution in southern and eastern New Zealand. • Most non-indigenous species located in the Port are likely to have been introduced to New Zealand accidentally by international shipping. • Approximately 64.3 % (nine of 14 species) of NIS in the Port of Gisborne are likely to have been introduced in hull fouling assemblages, 7.1 % via ballast water and 28.6 % could have been introduced by either ballast water or hull fouling vectors. • The predominance of hull fouling species in the introduced biota of the Port of Gisborne (as opposed to ballast water introductions) is consistent with findings from similar port baseline studies overseas.

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