Kapiti Marine Reserve

Some years ago, I had the pleasure to spend a day on Kapiti Island. Accessible only by specific ferry companies, Kapiti Island is a wonderful place to spend some time. These days, the predator-free Island is managed by the Department of Conservation however back in the mid-1830s, there were up to five whaling stations on the island. At the time, European traders and whalers were populating the coastlines and so local iwi provided them with land, pigs, potatoes, dressed flax and women in return for guns, tobacco and alcohol.

During the 1840s, the whaling trade/industry around parts of New Zealand had started to fade away. Kapiti Island was one of these locations. At this time, much of the land on the Island was cleared for farming and sheep, goats, pigs, deer, cats, and dogs were introduced. For the next forty to fifty years, the island was farmed until around 1900 when the government purchased most of the island and developed it into a predator-free, bird sanctuary. Being a nature reserve, it lies 5 kilometres off the West Coast of the North Island, at Paraparaumu. For over 100 years it has been managed by the New Zealand Government in order to protect its flora and fauna.

In 1992 Kapiti Marine Reserve was established to protect the nationally significant Marine life in the area. It also connects Kapiti Island Nature Reserve and Waikanae Estuary Reserve to form a rare continuum of protected land, sea and estuary habitats.