New Zealand's first marine reserve at Te Hāwere-a-Maki/Goat Island north of Auckland turns 50 this year. About 350,000 people visit the reserve annually to snorkel, dive or take a glass-bottom boat trip, and explore the abundance of life beneath the waves.
For five decades, the 518-hectare reserve has provided scientific researchers at the Leigh Marine Laboratory with a thriving marine ecosystem to observe. But back in the 1960s, things were different. Very little grew on the reefs in the shallows until marine conservation pioneer Dr Bill Ballantine waded in. He fought for 12 years to protect the five square kilometres of the marine habitat and faced plenty of opposition - eventually establishing the reserve in 1975. It then took around three decades for kelp forests to reestablish before the marine life moved in.
Conrad Pilditch and Simon Thrush are professors of marine sciences at the University of Auckland - they join Kathryn Ryan to discuss the massive transformations within the Goat Island marine reserve, the challenges posed by fisheries and what the future holds.
Photo: Paul Kennedy/ 123rf
