8. West coast of South island
Map ID Number: 8
Location: Out to the 500 m depth contour, from Dusky Sound in the south to western edge of Farewell Spit in the north
Approximate area: 50,506km2
Description of area:
The west coast of the South Island has an open coast and continental shelf. The shelf widens toward the north. The southern end of the region includes fiord systems that are unique to New Zealand.
Biological attributes:
New Zealand's largest population of the endemic Hector's dolphin (Cephalorynchus hectori) is found on the west coast of the South Island. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are resident in the fiords. A significant proportion of New Zealand's fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri) population lives on this coast, which is an important foraging area for this species. The Westland black petrel (Procellaria westlandica) also forages on the west coast and breeds there in the winter. The Fiordland crested penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus) is a locally endemic species.
Criteria applied:
Conservation status/threat classification(Hector’s dolphin).
Status and management:
There are minimal land-based human impacts on the west coast of the South Island due to the low level of development in this area. Some of the marine fauna, however, is at risk from human activities at sea. For example, the continental shelf is an important commercial fishing area for hoki, which has a bycatch of fur seals. In contrast, the fisheries appear to benefit Westland petrels which scavenge the discards of the harvest.
State of information:
Population estimates of Hector's dolphins and fur seals north of Fiordland are good (e.g. Slooten et al. 2002). There are detailed studies of Fiordland bottlenose dolphins, but poor information on fur seal populations in the fiords. Distribution information on penguins is good, but abundance information for these birds is poor.
References and further reading:
Freeman et al. (2001), Freeman and Wilson (2002), Slooten et al. (2002), Bräger and Schneider (1999), Williams et al. (1993).