The Ecology and Conservation Group
Mark Seabrook-Davison

RESEARCH

An evaluation of the establishment and management of wildlife reserves in New Zealand

The study will focus on the management of species classified as threatened and to assess how effective reserves and sanctuaries have been in the recovery of these species. A comparison of New Zealand's threatened species recovery models will be made with those of other countries. An outcome of the study will be to devise a series of programmes that will best suit the recovery needs of the different taxa of threatened species.

FUNDING BODIES

• Massey University Vice Chancellor Doctoral Scholarship

PUBLICATION/ REPORTS

Paul LJ 2000. New Zealand fishes, indentification, natural history and fisheries. Reed Publshing (NZ) Ltd, Auckland. [Contributing illustrator, ppl-253]

Seabrook-Davison M 1993. History and critique of the ITQ/QMS fisheries management systems of New Zealand. Unpublished report for Greenpeace New Zealand.

Davison M 1990. Ghosts of the coast. Greenpeace New Zealand. 53: 5-8

Seabrook-Davison M, Paul LJ & Hurst RJ 1985. School shark. In: Background papers for the 1985 Total Allowable Catch recommendations (Eds Colman JA, McKoy JL & Baird GG). pp. 170-182. Fisheries Research Division, New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture, Wellington.

Davison MNH 1981. The biology of Grahamichtys radiatus (cuvier and valenciennes) (Pisces: Eleotridae) in Wellington Harbour. Unpublished MSc Thesis. Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. |Abstract (PDF, 68 KB)|

CONFERENCES ATTENDED

2007 - Coastal and Marine Conference 2007, Auckland, New Zealand.
Seabrook-Davison M, Ji W, Baling M, & Brunton DH. The value of threatened species to tourism in New Zealand.

2007 - Australasian Society for Conservation Biology Conference, Sydney, Australia.

2006 - The Joint Conference of the NZ Ecological Society and the Ecological Society of Australia, Wellington, New Zealand.
Seabrook-Davison M, Brunton DH & Orams MB 2006. How New Zealand and Australia deal with the recovery of threatened species.

PREVIOUS WORK

Greenscapes Ltd

• Greenscapes was an environmental consultancy and landscape design company I started. I provided small land-holders with advice on how to design the layout of their properties and how to manage the ecosystems on their land. I encouraged the property owners to work with the natural features on their land and to conserve the native biodiversity present. I was involved in re-vegetation and wetland restoration projects.

Greenpeace New Zealand Inc

• Setnets:
  As part of a Setnet Task Force, I assisted the Ministry of Fisheries in the development of a “code of practice” for the setnet method of fishing. This code of practice has the function to minimise entanglement of non-target species such as marine mammals, seabirds and to reduce the risk of overfishing of inshore fish species.
• Orange roughy:
  A joint effort was made with staff from conservation organisations to inform the Minister of Fisheries on how the orange roughy fisheries were becoming vulnerable to overfishing. This work helped the Minister of Fisheries to set more conservative quotas for orange roughy.
• Scampi fishery:
  Conservation organisations became concerned at the methods used to catch scampi. After researching the scampi fisheries of New Zealand, Australia and Europe, I produced a report on the detrimental affects of unmanaged scampi exploitation.
• Snapper fisheries:
  Each year, every catch level for commercial species of fish is reviewed at a series of stock assessment workshops. I represented Greenpeace on the snapper workshop. With participating in this workshop, I was able to put forward principles of conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources.
• Protection of Hectors dolphins:
  Greenpeace has highlighted the vulnerability of Hector’s Dolphin to entanglement in setnets. I assisted other conservation organisations in advising the Government on the value of the Banks Peninsula dolphin sanctuary.
• Environmental impact assessment:
  For environmental organisations, I lobbied for the inclusion of environmental impact assessment for any use of the resources of the land and sea. This assessment establishes what the environment can sustain and how exploitation of resources can be managed to ensure sustainability. The concepts of, “the precautionary approach” and “prudent avoidance” put forward by Greenpeace are now principles adopted in the administration of resource management in New Zealand.

AFFILIATION to scientific and conservation organisations

• Committee member of the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi
• Voting Assembly member of Greenpeace New Zealand Inc.