Science Centres: Aquatic Biodiversity and Biosecurity

NIWA’s Marine Invasives Taxonomic Service (MITS) handles all identifications of marine species for MAF Biosecurity New Zealand. MITS has been up and running for just over 12 months now, with a constant flow of incoming samples from port surveys, vessel biofouling, surveillance, and other Biosecurity New Zealand projects. MITS also identifies occasional samples intercepted at the ‘border’ by MAF Quarantine or found by members of the public.

More than 15 000 samples, collected from 15 ports and more than 370 vessels, have been received for identification. In the past year, over 670 species have been identified. At least 100 are non-native species of which about 60% are first records for New Zealand waters. This vast series of specimens is not only identified, but also curated as a reference collection.

Many different phyla are contained in the samples, but the largest components are crustaceans (31%), molluscs (17%), polychaetes (12%), algae (10%), and bryozoans (8%).

Non-native species identified by MITS come from all around the world. Many of the specimens found on vessel hulls come from far-afield, for example, the Persian Gulf, California, and the Caribbean, whereas non-native species from port surveys generally originate from the Australasian region. New species identified for the first time from New Zealand waters are reported promptly to Biosecurity New Zealand.