Poor Knights Islands
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Poor Knights Islands

Geography
Location	Northland, New Zealand
Coordinates	35°30′S 174°45′E / -35.5, 174.75
Area	24 km²
Highest point	{{{highest mount}}} ()
Administration
New Zealand
Demographics
Population	{{{population}}}
Density	{{{density}}} people/km²

The waters off the Poor Knights are a marine reserve with subtropical species

The Poor Knights Islands are a group of islands off the east coast of the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. They are located 50 kilometres to the northeast of Whangarei, and lie 22 kilometres offshore half way between Bream Head and Cape Brett. Uninhabited since the 1820s, they are a nature reserve and popular underwater diving spot.

The chain consists of two large islands (Tawhiti Rahi, the larger, and Aorangi) with a group of smaller islets between the two, the largest of which is Motu Kapiti. The name Tawhiti Rahi is also used as a name for the entire chain by Māori. The islands are the eroded remnants of a 4 million year old rhyolitic volcano. The total area of the chain is 24 km².

The islands' name is said to derive from their resemblance to Poor Knight's Pudding, a bread-based dish popular at the time of discovery by Europeans.

The islands are protected as a nature reserve and a permit is required to land or tie boats up. Permits are usually granted only for scientific research. A notable native plant of the islands is the spectacularly-flowering Poor Knights lily. Feral pigs, which had roamed Aorangi since the departure of Māori in the 1820s, were exterminated in 1936.^[1]

History

The islands were earlier inhabited by Māori of the Ngāti Wai tribe who grew crops and fished the surrounding sea. The tribe traded with other Maori.

A chief of the tribe named Tatua led his warriors on a fighting expedition to the Hauraki Gulf with Ngā Puhi chief Hongi Hika in the early 1820s. While they were away, a slave escaped the islands and travelled to Hokianga where he told Waikato, a chief of the Hikutu tribe, that the islands had been left undefended. As Waikato had been offended by Tatua some years previous, he and his warriors set out on three large canoes to attack the islands. They arrived at the islands one night in December 1823^[2] and soon overpowered the islanders in the absence of their warriors. Many islanders jumped off the high cliffs to avoid being taken as slaves. Tatua's wife and daughter were captured and taken to the mainland where a distant relative recognised the wife and helped the two to escape.

Tatua returned to the islands to find a scene of destruction. Only nine or ten people were left on the islands, including his five year old son who had been hidden in a cave during the attack. The islands were declared tapu and Tatua left with the survivors and went to Rawhiti in the Bay of Islands where he unexpectedly found his wife and daughter.^[3][4][5]

Marine reserve

The waters for 800 metres around the islands are a marine reserve in which it is prohibited to disturb marine life or remove rocks or shells. No commercial fishing is permitted within one nautical mile (1,852 m) and long lining is the only commercial fishing permitted between one and three nautical miles. The islands are a popular diving location due to the variety of marine fauna found there, and are popular also for their intriguing landforms, which include natural arches and caves.

A study examined the response of snapper (Pagrus auratus) to the establishment of a no-take reserve around the Poor Knights Islands. The Poor Knights and two reference locations, Cape Brett and the Mokohinau Islands, were sampled biannually for four years using baited underwater video (BUV). Following full marine reserve status at the Poor Knights in October 1998, snapper showed significant increases in abundance and biomass relative to fished control locations. This was particularly apparent for large snapper (>270 mm), whose numbers increased rapidly to levels 7.4 times higher in the final survey compared to the initial pre-reserve survey, and total snapper biomass increased by 818%. There was no significant increase in the abundance, biomass or size of snapper at the reference locations over this time. There was a strong seasonal trend in snapper abundance, with higher numbers in autumn (March/April) compared to spring (September/October). The daily batch fecundity was 11 to 18 times higher at the Poor Knights compared to the reference locations.

Once fishing ceased in previously partially protected areas, a rapid recovery of snapper ensued, suggesting that partial fishing regulations are ineffective for protecting targeted species. The speed of increase in snapper density resulted from the immigration of adult fish into the reserve, rather than from within-reserve recruitment.

References

• "Geology – New Zealand's Geological History", from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 2006-09-26. Accessed 2007-04-15.
• Denny, CM, Willis, TJ and Babcock, RC (2004) "Rapid recolonisation of snapper Pagrus auratus: Sparidae within an offshore island marine reserve after implementation of no-take status". Marine Ecology Progress Series 272: 183–190

External links

• "Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve", Department Of Conservation, New Zealand

Coordinates: 35°30′S, 174°45′E