Cape Rodney-Okakari Point (Goat Island-Leigh)
"How big?"
That's the question you hear as snorkellers emerge from the water. Because not
only is the reserve teeming with life, the size of the fish are something you
see in few other places along mainland New Zealand. Snapper, red moki, goatfish
(aka red mullet), leatherjackets, blue maomao, and numerous other species thrive
in New Zealand's oldest marine reserve.
When
established in 1975 the area was an underwater desert after decades of
overfishing and other pressures in the Hauraki Gulf. But over the years not
only have the fish returned, people visit the reserve in record numbers--as many
as 200,000 each year--to see sea life on its own terms.
There
are numerous success stories at the reserve. For example, rock lobster
(commonly known as crayfish) are 15 times more abundant in the reserve than in
surrounding waters. 28 times more snapper live in the reserve and they are on
average 10 cm larger than those found outside of it.
One
Cape Rodney-Okakari Point snapper that would have its own tales to tell is
believed to be over 80 years old. Affectionately known as Monkeyface, because
of its misshapen head, the metre-long fish is considered by many the elder
statesfish of the marine reserve's resident fish.
For more
information:
www.doc.govt.nz/Conservation/Marine-and-Coastal/Marine-Reserves/020~Cape-Rodney-Okakari-Point/index.asp
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2 - 9 March 2008
