NIWA was contracted by Auckland Council to review the criteria for identifying Significant Ecological Areas (SEAs) provided by the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan (PAUP), with emphasis on their suitability for defining SEAs in the marine environment (SEA-Ms). As the Auckland Plan also contains a target requiring the reduction of suspended sediment to priority marine receiving environments (PMREs), these criteria are also suitable to assist in developing ecological criteria that would contribute towards identifying PMREs. Instead of producing a new set of criteria, NIWA was directed to assess the current Auckland Council PAUP SEA criteria for the use in identification of SEA-Ms and PMREs with respect to ecosystems and habitats, and recommend modified criteria for identifying SEA-Ms that are more relevant to marine ecosystems, and can assist the Council in giving effect to Policy 11 of the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS).

At a broad overview, the ecological significance criteria provided by the PAUP are relevant to determining marine SEAs. Criteria for Representativeness, Threat Status and Rarity, Diversity, Stepping Stones, Migration Pathways, and Buffers, and Uniqueness and Distinctiveness are all commonly used criteria throughout regional, national, and international classifications for ecological significance in the marine environment. Comparing to Auckland’s neighbouring councils, both Waikato and Northland Regional Councils have included similar criteria for inclusion or exclusion of sites as ecologically significant, though terminology and number of criteria vary between councils.

Auckland Council working report WR2015/001