Port of Picton: 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 Picton: Baseline survey for non-indenous marine species [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Executive Summary This report describes the results of a December 2001 survey to provide a baseline inventory of native, non- indigenous and cryptogenic marine species within the Port of Picton. • 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 a range of habitats within the Port of Picton. Fouling assemblages were scraped from hard substrata by divers, benthic assemblages were sampled using a benthic sled, and a gravity corer was used to sample for dinoflagellate cysts. Mobile predators and scavengers were sampled using baited fish, box, starfish and shrimp traps. • The distribution of sampling effort in the Port of Picton 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 215 species or higher taxa was identified from the Picton Port survey. These consisted of 148 native species, 9 non-indigenous species, 25 cryptogenic species (those whose geographic origins are uncertain) and 33 species indeterminata (taxa for which there is insufficient taxonomic or systematic information available to allow identification to species level). • Fourteen species of marine organisms collected from the Port of Picton had not previously been described from New Zealand waters. These consisted of a newly-discovered nonindigenous species (the ascidian, Cnemidocarpa sp.), a cryptogenic amphipod (Meridiolembos sp. aff. acherontis) and 12 species of sponge that did not match existing species descriptions and which may be new to science. • The nine non-indigenous organisms described from the Port of Picton included representatives of five phyla. The non-indigenous species detected (ordered alphabetically by phylum, class, order, family, genus and species) were: (Annelida): Dipolydora armata, Dipolydora flava and Polydora hoplura (Bryozoa): Bugula flabellata and Watersipora subtorquata, (Phycophyta): Undaria pinnatifida and Griffithsia crassiuscula (Porifera): Halisarca dujardini and (Urochordata): Cnemidocarpa sp. • The only species from the Port of Picton 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 or through domestic translocation or natural spread from other locations in New Zealand. • Approximately 56 % (five of nine species) of NIS in the Port of Picton are likely to have been introduced in hull fouling assemblages and 44 % (four species) could have been introduced by either ballast water or hull fouling vectors. Ballast water was not attributed as a definite introduction vector for any of the NIS encountered in the Port of Picton. • The predominance of hull fouling species in the introduced biota of the Port of Picton (as opposed to ballast water introductions) is consistent with findings from similar port baseline studies overseas.

Downloads: 0