Kermadec Islands
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Kermadec Islands ( mi, Rangitāhua) are a
subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...
island arc Island arcs are long chains of active volcanoes with intense seismic activity found along convergent tectonic plate boundaries. Most island arcs originate on oceanic crust and have resulted from the descent of the lithosphere into the mantle alon ...
in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
'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 ...
, and a similar distance southwest of
Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total area and uninhabited, except for the permanently manned
Raoul Island Raoul Island (''Sunday Island'') is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity ...
Station, the northernmost outpost of New Zealand. The islands are listed with the
New Zealand outlying islands The New Zealand outlying islands are nine offshore island groups that are part of New Zealand, with all but Solander Islands lying beyond the 12nm limit of the mainland's territorial waters. Although considered an integral parts of New Zealand ...
. The islands are an immediate part of New Zealand, but not part of any
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
or
district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
, but instead an ''Area Outside Territorial Authority''.


Toponymy

The islands were named after the
Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...
captain
Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec (12 September 1748 – 6 May 1793) was a French Navy officer. He took part in voyages of exploration in the Pacific Ocean under Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, looking for the lost expedition of Jean-François de La Pérouse. ...
, who visited the islands as part of the
d'Entrecasteaux Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux () (8 November 1737 – 21 July 1793) was a French naval officer, explorer and colonial governor. He is perhaps best known for his exploration of the Australian coast in 1792, while ...
expedition in the 1790s. The topographic particle "Kermadec" is of
Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...
origin and is a
lieu-dit ''Lieu-dit'' (; plural: ''lieux-dits'') (literally ''said-location'') is a French toponymic term for a small geographical area bearing a traditional name. The name usually refers to some characteristic of the place, its former use, a past event, ...
in
Pencran Pencran (; br, Penn-ar-C'hrann) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Geography Climate Pencran has a oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in Pencran ...
in
Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.
where '' ker'' means village, residence and madec a proper name derived from '' mad'' (which means 'good') with the suffix '' -ec'', used to form adjectives indicating a property. The Māori name is Rangitāhua which is also used for Raoul island.


History

As indicated by their name for the Islands, Rangitahua – the Stopping-off Place,
Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...
n people "stopped off" on the Kermadec Islands in around the 14th century (and perhaps previously in the 10th century). The first Europeans to reach the areaarriving onboard the ''
Lady Penrhyn ''Lady Penrhyn'' was built on the River Thames in 1786 as a slave ship. ''Lady Penrhyn'' was designed as a two-deck ship for use in the Atlantic slave trade, with a capacity of 275 slaves. She was part-owned by William Compton Sever, who serve ...
'' in May 1788found no inhabitants on these volcanic islands. British, American and Australian
whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...
vessels cruised offshore in the 19th century and often visited the islands in search of water, wood and food. The first such vessel on record was the whaler ''Fanny'' that visited Raoul Island in 1823. On 1 August 1886, HMS Diamond
annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
the islands for the United Kingdom. European settlers have lived on the island for varying lengths of time, from the early nineteenth century until 1937, growing food for the whalers. The Thomas Bell family settled on the island from 1878 to 1914. One of the Bell daughters, Bessie Dyke, recounted the family's experience to writer Elsie K. Morton who published their story in 1957 as, ''Crusoes of Sunday Island''. The islands were annexed to New Zealand in 1887 according to one source. However the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand states the annexation happened in 1886.


Raoul Island Station

The Station consists of a government meteorological and radio station, and a hostel for
Department of Conservation (New Zealand) The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori: ''Te Papa Atawhai'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealand's natural and historical heritage. An advisory body, the New Zealand Conservation Au ...
officers and volunteers, that has been maintained since 1937. It lies on the northern terraces of Raoul Island, at an elevation of about , above the cliffs of Fleetwood Bluff. It is the northernmost inhabited outpost of New Zealand.


Nuclear testing proposals

In 1955 the British Government required a large site remote from population centres to test the new
thermonuclear Thermonuclear fusion is the process of atomic nuclei combining or “fusing” using high temperatures to drive them close enough together for this to become possible. There are two forms of thermonuclear fusion: ''uncontrolled'', in which the re ...
devices it was developing. Various islands in the South Pacific and Southern Oceans were considered, along with Antarctica. The Admiralty suggested the
Antipodes Islands The Antipodes Islands ( Maōri: Moutere Mahue; "Abandoned island") are inhospitable and uninhabited volcanic islands in subantarctic waters to the south of – and territorially part of – New Zealand. The 21 km2 archipelago lies 860  ...
may be suitable. In May 1955, the Minister for Defence, Selwyn Lloyd, on advice from the Admiralty report, concluded that the Kermadec Islands would be suitable. As the island group are part of New Zealand,
Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achieving rapid promo ...
who had recently become the Prime Minister of the UK wrote to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Sidney Holland, to ask for permission to use the islands. Holland refused, fearing an adverse public reaction in the upcoming 1957 general election in New Zealand. Despite reassurances and pressure from the British government, Holland remained firm.


Geography

The islands lie within 29° to 31.5° south latitude and 178° to 179° west longitude, northeast 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 ...
, and a similar distance southwest of
Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
. The total area of the islands is .


Climate

The climate of the islands is
subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...
, with a mean monthly temperature of in February and in August. Rainfall is approximately annually, with lower rainfall from October to January.


Islands

The group includes four main islands as well as some isolated rocks. These are: *
Raoul Island Raoul Island (''Sunday Island'') is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity ...
or Sunday Island is by far the largest of the islands. It lies south-southwest of 'Ata, the southernmost island of Tonga, and north-northeast of New Zealand. Raoul Island has an area of with numerous smaller satellite islands; its highest point, Moumoukai peak, is high *
Macauley Island Macauley Island is a volcanic island in New Zealand's Kermadec Islands, approximately halfway between New Zealand's North Island and Tonga in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It is part of a larger submarine volcano that features a wide underwa ...
, the second largest, is located south-southwest of Raoul Island. Together with neighbouring Haszard Island, its area is . ** Macdonald Rock is about north of Macauley Island.Chart NZ 2225
, Hydrographic Office, Royal New Zealand Navy, 1994. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
* Curtis Island, the third largest, lies south-southwest of Macauley Island. It reaches a height of and has an area of with neighbouring Cheeseman Island. * Nugent Island is the northernmost island. It is approximately across. *
L'Esperance Rock L'Esperance Rock, formerly known as French Rock and Brind Rock,(named after William Brind) is the southernmost islet in the Kermadec Islands, to the north of New Zealand. It is south of Curtis Island and northeast of East Cape on New Zealand ...
, formerly French Rock, is south-southwest of Curtis Island. It is in diameter, in area, and high. * L'Havre Rock, about north-northwest of L'Esperance Rock, is submerged except at low tide.
Seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...
s north and south of the Kermadec Islands are an extension of the ridge running from Tonga to New Zealand (see
Geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
). Star of Bengal Bank, south-southwest of L'Esperance Rock, has a least depth of


Geology

The islands are a
volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...
island arc Island arcs are long chains of active volcanoes with intense seismic activity found along convergent tectonic plate boundaries. Most island arcs originate on oceanic crust and have resulted from the descent of the lithosphere into the mantle alon ...
, formed at the
convergent boundary A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more Plate tectonics, lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The subduction zone can ...
where the
Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...
subducts under the
Indo-Australian Plate The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes the continent of Australia and the surrounding ocean and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and the adjacent waters. It was formed by the fusion of the Indian an ...
. The subducting Pacific Plate created the
Kermadec Trench The Kermadec Trench is a linear ocean trench in the south Pacific Ocean. It stretches about from the Louisville Seamount Chain in the north (26°S) to the Hikurangi Plateau in the south (37°S), north-east of New Zealand's North Island. Toget ...
, an 8 km deep
submarine trench Oceanic trenches are prominent long, narrow topographic depressions of the ocean floor. They are typically wide and below the level of the surrounding oceanic floor, but can be thousands of kilometers in length. There are about of oceanic tren ...
, to the east of the islands. The islands lie along the undersea Kermadec Ridge, which runs southwest from the islands towards the
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 ...
of
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and northeast towards
Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
(
Kermadec-Tonga Arc The Tonga-Kermadec Ridge is an oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Ocean underlying the Tonga- Kermadec island arc. It is the most linear, fastest converging, and most seismically active subduction boundary on Earth, and consequently has the ...
). The four main islands are the peaks of volcanoes that rise high enough from the seabed to project above sea level. There are several other volcanoes in the chain that do not reach sea level, but form
seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...
s with between 65 and 1500 m of water above their peaks.
Monowai Seamount Monowai Seamount is a volcanic seamount to the north of New Zealand. It is formed by a large caldera and a volcanic cone just south-southeast from the caldera. The volcanic cone rises to depths of up to but its depth varies with ongoing volcani ...
, with a depth of 120 m over its peak, is midway between Raoul Island and Tonga. 100 km south of L'Esperance Rock is the little-explored
Star of Bengal Bank A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
, probably with submarine volcanoes. Further south are the
South Kermadec Ridge Seamounts The South Kermadec Ridge Seamounts are a continuation of the volcanic island arc, formed at the convergent boundary where the Pacific Plate subducts under the Indo-Australian Plate. The subducting Pacific Plate created the Kermadec Trench, the s ...
, the southernmost of which, Rumble IV Seamount, is just 150 km North of the North Island of New Zealand. The ridge eventually connects to
White Island White Island may refer to: Places Oceania *Whakaari / White Island, volcanic island in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand **2019 Whakaari / White Island eruption *White Island (Otago), Dunedin, New Zealand North America *White Island, Paget, Bermuda ...
in New Zealand's
Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...
, at the northern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone. The islands experience many earthquakes from plate movement and volcanism. Raoul and Curtis are both active
volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
es. The volcanoes on the other islands are currently inactive, and the smaller islands are the eroded remnants of extinct volcanoes. From 18 to 21 July 2012,
Havre Seamount Havre Seamount is an active volcanic seamount lying within the Kermadec Islands group of New Zealand, in the south-west Pacific Ocean, on the Tonga-Kermadec Ridge The Tonga-Kermadec Ridge is an oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Ocean ...
(near Havre Rock) erupted, breaching the ocean surface from a depth of more than 1100 m and producing a large raft of
pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular vol ...
floating northwest of the volcano. The eruption was not directly observed, but it was located using earthquake and
remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...
data after the pumice raft was spotted by aircraft and encountered by HMNZS ''Canterbury''. The islands are seismically active. An 8.1 magnitude earthquake occurred in the early hours of 5 March 2021, leading to several strong aftershocks and a tsunami advisory on the North Coast of
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 ...
and other Pacific islands, including Norfolk Island, Australia. Other magnitude 8 earthquakes have struck near the islands in 1917 and 1976.


Environment


Flora

The islands are recognised by ecologists as a distinct
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
, the Kermadec Islands subtropical moist forests. It is a
tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...
ecoregion, part of the
Oceanian realm The Oceanian realm is one of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) biogeographic realms, and is unique in not including any continental land mass. It has the smallest land area of any of the WWF realms. This realm includes the islands of the Pacific Oc ...
. The forests are dominated by the red-flowering Kermadec pōhutukawa, related to the
pōhutukawa ''Metrosideros excelsa'', commonly known as pōhutukawa ( mi, pōhutukawa), New Zealand Christmas tree, New Zealand Christmas bush, and iron tree, is a coastal evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display o ...
of New Zealand. The islands are home to 113 native species of
vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...
s, of which 23 are
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
, along with mosses (52 native species), lichens and fungi (89 native species). Most of the plant species are derived from New Zealand, with others from the tropical Pacific. 152 human-
introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...
of plants have become established on the islands. Dense subtropical forests cover most of Raoul, and formerly covered Macauley. ''
Metrosideros kermadecensis ''Metrosideros kermadecensis'', with common names ''Kermadec pōhutukawa'' and New Zealand Christmas bush is an evergreen tree of the myrtle family which is endemic to the volcanic Kermadec Islands about 900 km north-east of New Zealand. ...
'' is the dominant forest tree, forming a 10 – 15-metre (30 – 50 foot) high canopy. A native nīkau palm (''
Rhopalostylis baueri ''Rhopalostylis baueri'' is a species of palm native to Norfolk Island ( Australia) and to the Kermadec Islands (New Zealand). Norfolk Island is the type locality. The common names on Norfolk Island are 'Norfolk Island palm' or 'niau'. In New Ze ...
'') is another important canopy tree. The forests had a rich understory of smaller trees, shrubs, ferns, and herbs, including '' Myrsine kermadecensis''; '' Lobelia anceps'', '' Poa polyphylla'', ''
Coprosma acutifolia ''Coprosma acutifolia'', is a shrub that is native to New Zealand, found only on Raoul Island Raoul Island (''Sunday Island'') is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and nor ...
'', and ''
Coriaria arborea ''Coriaria arborea'' is a highly poisonous and common native shrub or small tree of New Zealand. The common name for this and the other New Zealand species of ''Coriaria'' is tutu. ''Coriaria arborea'' is found in scrub and open areas from the ...
''. Two endemic
tree fern The tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ...
s, '' Alsophila milnei'' and the rare and endangered '' Alsophila kermadecensis'', are also found in the forests. Areas near the seashore and exposed to salt spray are covered by a distinct community of shrubs and ferns, notably ''
Myoporum obscurum ''Myoporum obscurum'', commonly known as popwood, sandalwood or bastard ironwood is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae. It is a very rare shrub, endemic to Norfolk Island where it occurs in a few scattered locations. Description ' ...
'', '' Coprosma petiolata'', '' Asplenium obtusatum'', '' Cyperus ustulatus'', '' Disphyma australe'', and ''
Ficinia nodosa ''Ficinia nodosa'', the knotted club-rush or knobby club-rush, is a Rhizome, rhizomatous Perennial plant, perennial in the family Cyperaceae, native to South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Widespread in the Southern Hemisphere, ''Ficinia no ...
''.


Fauna

The islands have no native land mammals. An endemic bird subspecies is the Kermadec red-crowned parakeet. The group has been identified as an
Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA) by
BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
because of its significance as a breeding site for several species of seabirds, including white-necked and
black-winged petrel The black-winged petrel (''Pterodroma nigripennis'') is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae. It breeds on a number of oceanic islands in the tropical and subtropical East Pacific Ocean and spends the rest of the year at sea. Descr ...
s, wedge-tailed and
little shearwater The little shearwater (''Puffinus assimilis'') is a small shearwater in the petrel family Procellariidae. Despite the generic name, it is unrelated to the puffins, which are auks, the only similarity being that they are both burrow-nesting s ...
s,
sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Taxonomy The sooty tern was described by Carl Linnaeu ...
s and blue noddies. The area also hosts rich habitats for cetaceans. In recent years, increased presences of
humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...
s indicate Kermadec Islands functioning as migratory corridors, and varieties of baleen (not in great numbers) and toothed whales including
minke whale The minke whale (), or lesser rorqual, is a species complex of baleen whale. The two species of minke whale are the common (or northern) minke whale and the Antarctic (or southern) minke whale. The minke whale was first described by the Danish n ...
s,
sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...
s, less known
beaked whale Beaked whales (systematic name Ziphiidae) are a family of cetaceans noted as being one of the least known groups of mammals because of their deep-sea habitat and apparent low abundance. Only three or four of the 24 species are reasonably well-k ...
s,
killer whale The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white pa ...
s, and dolphins frequent in adjacent waters. In late September 2015, satellite tags were attached to 25 humpback whales around Raoul Island, which were tracked to feeding grounds in Antarctica and across to the Antarctic Peninsula. Vast numbers of
southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...
s were historically seen in southwestern areas although only a handful of recent confirmations exist around
Raoul Island Raoul Island (''Sunday Island'') is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity ...
. The deep sea
hydrothermal vents A hydrothermal vent is a fissure on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspot ...
along the Kermadec ridge support diverse
extremophile An extremophile (from Latin ' meaning "extreme" and Greek ' () meaning "love") is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e. environments that make survival challenging such as due to extreme temper ...
communities including the New Zealand blind vent crab. Three new records of tropical reef fishes were recorded from the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve in 2015 after researchers examined hundreds of hours of unused documentary film footage, and in 2016, a red velvet whalefish and an angler fish (''
Ceratias tentaculatus ''Ceratias tentaculatus'', commonly known as the southern seadevil, is a species of sea devil, a type of anglerfish. The fish is bathydemersal Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of ocean, seas or l ...
'') were found around the waters of the Kermadec Islands by a research partnership between
Ngāti Kurī Ngāti Kurī is a Māori iwi from Northland, New Zealand. The iwi is one of the five Muriwhenua iwi of the far north of the North Island. Ngāti Kurī trace their whakapapa (ancestry) back to Pōhurihanga, the captain of the waka (canoe) Kurahau ...
,
University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
,
Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...
,
NIWA The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research or NIWA ( mi, Taihoro Nukurangi), is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. Established in 1992, NIWA conducts research across a broad range of disciplines in the environmental scien ...
, Manaaki Whenua, and the
University of Waikato The University of Waikato ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato), is a Public university, public research university in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand established in 1964. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university perfo ...
. In 2016, Koha, a
hawksbill turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is large ...
, which was originally found injured near
Dargaville Dargaville ( mi, Takiwira) is a town located in the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the bank of the Northern Wairoa River in the Kaipara District of the Northland region. The town is located 55 kilometres southwest of Whangāre ...
in September 2014, was released around the waters of Raoul Island and nursed back to health at
Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium (formerly Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World) is a public aquarium opened in 1985 in Auckland, New Zealand. Located at 23 Tamaki Drive, it was the brainchild of New Zealand marine archaeologist and diver Kelly Tar ...
. The release was from the deck of the
RV Tangaroa RV ''Tangaroa'' is a research vessel operated by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) of New Zealand. It was purpose-built as a Deepwater Research Vessel for the then Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Research Cent ...
, with land in sight to enable Koha to orientate itself to prevent the risk of getting lost in the open ocean.


Conservation

The introduction of cats, rats, and goats devastated the forests and seabirds. Overgrazing by goats eliminated the forests of Macauley Island, leaving open grasslands, and altered the understory of Raoul Island. Predation by rats and cats reduced the seabird colonies on the main islands from millions of birds to tens of thousands. The New Zealand government has been working for the last few decades to restore the islands. New Zealand declared the islands a
nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
in 1937, and the sea around them 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 ...
in 1990. The marine reserve surrounds each of the islands and is one of New Zealand's largest at a total area of . Goats were removed from Macauley in 1970 and from Raoul in 1984, and the forests have begun to recover. The islands are still known for their bird life, and seabird colonies presently inhabit offshore islets, which are safe from introduced rats and cats. Efforts are currently underway to remove the rats and cats from the islands, as well as some of the invasive exotic plants. Visits to the islands are restricted by the Department of Conservation. The Department allows visits to Raoul by volunteers assisting in environmental restoration or monitoring projects, and other visitors engaged in nature study. Visits to the other islands are generally restricted to those engaged in scientific study of the islands. On 29 September 2015, the New Zealand Prime Minister
John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bo ...
announced the creation of the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, a
protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
in the Kermadec Islands region. However, subsequently, fishing companies and
iwi 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 ...
bodies filed legal action opposing it, and a coalition deal with the
New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...
Party has led to the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill not passing its second reading as of 2019. In October–November 2016, a collaborative team of researchers from
Auckland Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auckla ...
,
University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
,
Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...
,
NIWA The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research or NIWA ( mi, Taihoro Nukurangi), is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. Established in 1992, NIWA conducts research across a broad range of disciplines in the environmental scien ...
and the
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...
undertook research around Kermadec Islands aboard RV ''Tangaroa''. The multi-disciplinary team investigated the biodiversity of organisms living on the ocean floor and at midwater. The marine mammal populations were examined to determine what animal and plant species are shared between mainland New Zealand and the Kermadec region.


References


External links

*
The Kermadecs: an ocean wilderness


at Seafriends
Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary
from the Ministry for the Environment / Manatū Mō Te Taiao {{authority control Archipelagoes of New Zealand Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Ecoregions of New Zealand Oceanian ecoregions Island restoration Important Bird Areas of the Kermadec Islands Lists of coordinates Volcanism of New Zealand States and territories established in 1887 1887 establishments in New Zealand