Marine Reserves in New Zealand
Students study marine communities up-close and submerged at the Cape Rodney-Okakari Point Marine Reserve. At Cape Rodney-Okakari Point students stay at the Leigh Marine Laboratory, a University of Auckland research facility. Here they get in the water to survey urchin populations, comparing population size and cryptic behavior and its relationship to predation at several sample sites inside and outside of the reserve boundary. Students get the opportunity to discuss with resource managers and academic staff the pros and cons of New Zealand's Marine Reserve Act of 1971 and associated policies.
Students await snorkeling at Poor Knights.
Weather permitting, we endeavour to take students to other Marine Reserves, such as the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve, or Hahei Marine Reserve (east of Coromandel Peninsula). When we go to the Poor Knights, we travel aboard certified vessels with qualified and knowledgeable skippers and crew. The Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve was one of Jacques Cousteau's favorite dive sites in the world, and it is easy to see why. The reserve features beautiful natural arches both above and below water, and is home to marine life including urchins, anemones, stingrays, eels, nudibranchs, and a myriad of fish species. Marine biodiversity is the focus of this component of the program.
A natural arch at Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve.
