Te Angiangi Marine Reserve is a

marine reserve A marine reserve is a type of marine protected area (MPA). An MPA is a section of the ocean where a government has placed limits on human activity. A marine reserve is a marine protected area in which removing or destroying natural or cultural ...

covering a marine area of in the

Hawke's Bay Region Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. It was established in 1997 and is administered by the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

. The reserve protects a piece of the

Central Hawke's Bay District Central Hawke's Bay District is part of the Hawke's Bay Region in the North Island of New Zealand. Formed in 1989, it has an area of 3,333 square kilometres with a population of It had a population of 12,717 people as of the 2013 census. This is ...

coastline, between Aramoana and Blackhead Beach, east of the main settlements on State Highway 2. Aramoana is a 30 minute drive from Waipawa, while Blackhead Beach is a 30 minute drive from

Waipukurau Waipukurau is the largest town in the Central Hawke's Bay District on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the banks of the Tukituki River, 7 kilometres south of Waipawa and 50 kilometres southwest of Hastings. H ...

. It is the only marine reserve in the

, but is located well south of the Hawke's Bay itself.

Geography

The reserve extends from a large triangular beacon at the mouth of the Ouepoto Stream in the north, to another beacon 100 metres south of the end of Long Range Road at Blackhead in the south. It also extends offshore from the mean high water line, with the depth ranging from and . The large tidal platform provides a habitat for

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

, wandering

anemones ''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family (biology), family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are Native plant, native to the Temperate climate, temperate and Subtropics, subtrop ...

, and other species. The warm East Cape current and the colder South Wairarapa current mix offshore, bringing together species from north and south of the reserve that are not usually seen together.

Rock lobster "Rock Lobster" is a song written by Fred Schneider and Ricky Wilson, two members of the B-52's. It was twice recorded and released as a single, first by DB Records as their debut release in April 1978, and again the following year for the ban ...

s are also regularly seen. When the platform is exposed at low tide, there are beds of Neptune's necklace,

Coralline algae Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of re ...

, patches of

sea grass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

, and rockpools with fish and shellfish, including golden limpets. Many migratory wading birds take advantage of the low tide to feed, including kingfishers, gulls, herons, various

oystercatchers The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The e ...

, pied stilts and flocks of eastern bar-tailed godwits. Small flocks of gulls,

white-fronted tern The white-fronted tern (''Sterna striata''), also known as tara, sea swallow, black-billed tern, kahawai bird, southern tern, or swallow tail, was first described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789. A medium-sized tern with an all-white body inclu ...

s and Caspian terns roost on the sand at the mouths of small streams during high tide. Banded dotterels also visit the beaches at high tide.

History

When

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative di ...

settled the Central Hawke's Bay, Porangahau's descendant Te Aomatarahi was given the lands east of the

Tukituki River The Tukituki River is found in the eastern North Island of New Zealand. It flows from the Ruahine Ranges to the Pacific Ocean at the southern end of Hawke's Bay. The river flows for , east and then northeast, passing through the town of Waipuk ...

. It was then divided further between his descendants, Tu Mapuhiarangi and Te Angiangi. The local hapū

Ngāti Kere Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

gave the marine reserve the name Te Angiangi as it was the area under his mana. The reserve was formally established on 4 August 1997, after many years of work by the Department of Conservation and the local community. In April 2011, heavy rainfall during a shallow magnitude 4.5 earthquake caused the full width of the rock platform to be inundated with 14 landslides, completely burying and sweeping away all lifeforms. Relentless wave action began to uncover the platform within a few months. The reserve started to was still recovering in 2018. In January 2012, six Hawke's Bay prisoners on temporary release and their two supervisors were caught illegally collecting

pāua Pāua is the Māori name given to three New Zealand species of large edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs which belong to the family Haliotidae (in which there is only one genus, ''Haliotis''), known in the United States and Austral ...

and kina from the marine reserve. There is evidence of ongoing widespread poaching. In 2013, 20% of convictions for fishing in New Zealand marine reserves related to Te Angiangi. In December 2017, a sharp increase in poaching was reported with seven convictions in seven weeks. Another conviction was reported in September 2018. A further rise in poaching was reported between 2020 and 2021 when there was no resident ranger to patrol the marine reserve.

Recreation

The marine reserve is open for watching birds and wildlife, and exploring rock pools. Swimming is at Shelly Bay, and at Stringray Bay at low tide. The reserve is well-suited to snorkelling and scuba diving, including off the rock platform. Nothing can be taken from the marine reserve, including through fishing, seaweed or shellfish gathering. Rocks in rock pools must be returned to their original position. Activities which disturb marine life, like discharging firearms and trampling on plant life, is not allowed. Horses and vehicles can be taken along the top of the rock platform, but cannot be taken to the rocky areas below the mean high water line. Dogs must be kept on a leash, and no other plants or animals can be taken into the reserve. Boats are allowed, but people must take care when anchoring to avoid damaging the sea floor. When encountering seals, dolphins or whales, the boat must be slowed to five knots, must stay 50 metres away, must not travel through the middle of a pod, must avoid making sudden course changes, and must not accelerate until they are well clear. There are campgrounds and a range of bach accommodation at both ends of the reserve.

References

{{Central Hawke's Bay District Marine reserves of New Zealand Protected areas of the Hawke's Bay Region Central Hawke's Bay District 1997 establishments in New Zealand Protected areas established in 1997

Geography

History

Recreation

See also

References