Auckland Museum is leading a Biodiscovery Expedition to the Kermadec Islands, with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Australian Museum, and the Department of Conservation. We depart on the research vessel RV Braveheart on 9 May 2011 from Tauranga and return 21 days later.
The 13 volcanic islands and islets of the Kermadec region are located between New Zealand’s North Island and Tonga. They are very remote – at least 1,000 km from their closest neighbour. The Kermadecs are part of New Zealand’s EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) meaning New Zealand has special rights over the exploration and use of their marine resources.
Untouched environment
The Kermadec Islands are the largest marine reserve in New Zealand at 7,450 square km. They are the last remaining unfished area in New Zealand, and one of the few marine areas in the world where large predatory fishes are in numbers and at sizes approaching that of natural, unfished populations. This ‘untouched’ environment is reflected across all marine animals and plants that live there.
Marine life of the Kermadecs
The islands extend the New Zealand EEZ into the warmer subtropics, resulting in an increase in marine species diversity. There are birds, whales, dolphins, fish, turtles and marine invertebrates (animals without backbones) that are rare or never found on mainland New Zealand. Some species occur nowhere else in the world.
The Kermadecs link New Zealand’s marine environment of the northern North Island to the tropical South Pacific. In particular, the marine species composition appears similar to other remote islands to the west: Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. But links with populations among the islands of the Kermadecs, and between the Kermadecs and adjacent islands, are unknown.
