Marine Reserves Map

Marine Reserves  Rules   Resources

Do you know where New Zealand's marine reserves are?

Test your knowledge by matching the numbered marine reserves below with the letters on the map.

Write down your answers then go to ANSWERS to find out how you did.    GOOD LUCK!

1. Cape Rodney-Okakari Point Marine Reserve (1975). Near Leigh, Auckland.
2. Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve (1981). North-east of Whangarei.
3. Kapiti Marine Reserve (1992). 50 kilometres north of Wellington.
4. Whanganui A Hei (Cathedral Cove) Marine Reserve (1992). South-eastern end of Mercury Bay, Coromandel Peninsula.
5. Mayor Island (Tuhua) Marine Reserve (1992). North-east of Tauranga Harbour.
6. Long Island-Kokomohua Marine Reserve (1993). Queen Charlotte Sound.
7. Piopiotahi Marine Reserve (1993). Fiordland. Both this reserve and Te Awaatu have a unique underwater environment created by a layer of tea-coloured freshwater which sits on top of the salt water. This allows deep water species such as black and red corals and sea pens, normally found on the deeper continental shelf, to live in shallower water.
8. Te Awaatu Channel (The Gut) Marine Reserve (1993). Fiordland.
9. Tonga Marine Reserve (1993). Abel Tasman National Park.
10. Westhaven (Te Tai Tapu) Marine Reserve (1994). North-west coast of the South Island. The marine reserve and adjacent wildlife management reserve protect one of New Zealand's largest and most unspoilt estuaries.
11. Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve (1995). Just north of Auckland.
12. Motu Manawa-Pollen Island Marine Reserve (1995). Waitemata harbour, Auckland.
13. Te Angiangi Marine Reserve (1998). Cape Kidnappers, East Coast.
14. Pohatu Marine Reserve (1999). Flea Bay, Banks Peninsula.
15. Te Tapuwae o Rongokako (1999). Just north of Gisborne.

16. Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve (1990) is New Zealand's biggest marine reserve. It's not on this map because it is a long way from the main islands of New Zealand, so it didn't fit on the page! It is approximately 400 nautical miles north-east of the Bay of Islands, that's about 930 kilometres (that's about the same length as the South Island!).  It surrounds the 4 main islands in the Kermadec group.  Get out your atlas and see if you can find the Kermadec Islands.

Just so you know..... the year (in brackets) after the marine reserve name, is the year the area became a marine reserve.

Some of the information about the marine reserves came from the Department of Conservation.

To learn more about these marine reserves go to Marine Reserve Resources or DOC's website www.doc.govt.nz/cons/marine/reserv.htm  

Happy surfing!