Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve

The Kermadec Islands are the visible surface of a chain of about 80 volcanoes, stretching for 2,600 km between Tonga and New Zealand.

Raoul Island is the biggest of the group, which begins at the southernmost L’Esperance. While the other islands and islets are smaller, several of them harbour important bird colonies.

The marine reserve was created in 1990 and is one of New Zealand’s largest marine reserves, covering 745,000 ha. It supports New Zealand’s only truly subtropical marine systems, and historically low levels of fishing have left this environment largely undisturbed and abundant.

The Pacific and Australasian tectonic plates collide along the Kermadec Trench, lifting and buckling the Australasian plate and sinking the Pacific plate. The volcanic chain is formed by the Pacific plate melting as it sinks beneath the Australasian plate.

Marine reserve map and boundaries

Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve map (PDF, 596K)

Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve GPS file (GPX, 1K)

For tide, boundaries and other information you can download the MarineMate app.

Biodiversity

The Kermadec's region has never been connected to a larger landmass. In it's isolation, it has evolved a unique subtropical and temperate biodiversity, both above and below the waterline. A particular feature of the inshore waters is the abundance of large predatory fishes, notably galapagos sharks, spotted black grouper (which can grow to around 2m in this area) and kingfish.

Between late August and early November a significant proportion of the South West Pacific humpback whale population, including cows with calves, migrate south through the archipelago. Many pass very close to Raoul Island. 

Green turtles and other tropical marine species are most abundant around Raoul Island. In fact, five of the world’s seven sea turtle species are found here. Subtropical and temperate species tend to dominate the inshore fauna and flora of the southern islands. 

All of the islands support breeding colonies of sea birds. The largest colonies are located on the relatively small islets off the Raoul and Macauley Islands, which have remained rat-free following human discovery.

Deepwater hydrothermal vents harbour extensive beds of giant vent mussels, found only in this area. They in turn provide a habitat for deepwater crabs and an endemic eelpout (an eel-like fish).  Elsewhere fields of sea lilies (stalked crinoids) have been observed but in most places the sea floor beyond the vents is dominated by bare rock and fine sediments.

Polynesian heritage

Raoul island was settled by early Polynesians between 600 and 1,000 years ago. As a result, Raoul island may hold important clues to understanding the Māori migration voyages between eastern Polynesia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Settlement of the island appears to have been intermittent, possibly failing for want of resources or due to volcanic activity.

Evidence of occasionally extensive ancient settlements remains, mainly on the northern coast of Raoul at Low Flat, the Farm Terrace, and Coral Bay. It is likely that the Denham Bay Caldera beachfront was also occupied at times.

There is evidence of communities based on coastal fishing. This includes the harvesting of seabirds and marine mammals as well as tools production and other artefacts from local basalt and obsidian.

The Kermadec Islands have a number of plants that were probably introduced by voyagers from other parts of Polynesia. The presence of kiore, a species of rat now eradicated from Macauley Island, also indicates Polynesian contact with that island.

Māori scholars believe the Kermadec archipelago represents a place called Te Rangitahua in their oral history, particularly Raoul Island. The Aotea and Kurahaupo canoes both visited Te Rangitahua on the way from Rarotonga to Aotearoa in the fourteenth century. The Kurahaupo was damaged there, and most of the crew transferred to the Aotea to travel on to Aotearoa. The Kurahaupo was repaired and eventually landed at Takapaukura (Tom Bowling Bay) in Northland.

European heritage

Early European voyagers also based activities, particularly whaling, on the islands and much of their early eighteenth and nineteenth century contact with Aotearoa resulted from this.

From the early to mid nineteenth century, Raoul and Macauley islands were used extensively for provisioning by whaling vessels operating in the French Rock and Vasquez grounds near the Kermadec Islands.

From 1836 onwards, there were a number of European attempts to settle Raoul, focused mainly on Denham Bay and to a lesser extent at Low Flat and the Terraces. Exotic plants and animals were introduced and areas cleared for pasture and cultivation.

The New Zealand Government annexed the Kermadecs in 1887. Provision depots for shipwrecked sailors were established on the main islands in the southern Kermadecs in 1888.

In 1934 most of Raoul Island and all of the other islands in the group were set aside as a flora and fauna reserve, later to become a nature reserve. The rest of Raoul (111ha) was set aside for a meteorological station on the island in 1938, when the last independent settlers left the island. DOC acquired this block of land in 1991.