Ngā Motu/Sugar Loaf Islands
Just offshore from New Plymouth is the stubble of an ancient but massive volcano much older than Mt Taranaki. It formed 1.75 million years ago so any soft rock has long since been eroded away leaving a group of low sea stacks and seven islands that provide a unique semi-sheltered environment along an otherwise exposed coastline.
Maori called the area Ngā Motu - the islands. In 1770 the guano deposits reminded James Cook of the way sugar in Europe was stored in heaps or loaves and he named the islands the Sugar Loaf Islands. In the 1820s a whaling station was established on Moturoa Island.
Protection and recognition
View over Sugar Loaf Islands towards
Egmont National Park
In the early 1980s local people saw the need to formally recognise and protect the marine environment around the Ngā Motu/Sugar Loaf Islands.
The Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Park was established in 1986 to control both fishing (under the Fisheries Act 1983) and non-fishing (under the Harbours Act 1950) activities. The formal protection of this area was supported by a traditional blessing with a tohunga (priest) placing a rahui over the area.
Concern about the areas degree of protection against oil prospecting and development led to the Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area Act 1991. The Act included a prohibition against mining.
Location
The Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area (SLIMPA) takes in the seabed, foreshore and water around the Ngā Motu/Sugar Loaf Islands. SLIMPA lies between the Port Taranaki breakwater and Herekawa Stream in New Plymouth and since June 2008 has shared its southern boundary with the Tapuae Marine Reserve.
The islands, Waikaranga/Seal Rock and Tokatapu are now part of the Tapuae Marine Reserve. Initial thoughts were to include more of the islands in the reserve but concerns raised by local iwi and fishers saw the boundary move south.
Ngā Motu /Sugar Loaf Islands are the only offshore islands in the Taranaki and Manawatu regions. Access to the islands is by permit only.
SLIMPA rules
Commercial fishing, except trolling for kingfish and kahawai, is not allowed. Individual fishers are restricted to one rod with a maximum of three hooks and set netting and long lining are banned.
Spoil dumping and activities that may disturb the foreshore and seabed are restricted throughout SLIMPA. This includes anchoring by commercial vessels, mining and drilling.
The seabed, foreshore, waters and inner islands of Motaora/Round Rock, Pararaki/Seagull Rock and Motuotamatea/Snapper Rock were designated as Conservation Park. Moturoa, Motumahanga/Saddleback and Whareumu were declared Sanctuary Areas under the Conservation Act 1987. Access to the Sanctuary areas requires a permit.
SLIMPA marine environment
Spectacular canyons, caves, rock faces with crevices and overhangs, large pinnacles, boulder fields and extensive sand flats form the subtidal marine habitats around the Sugar Loaf Islands.
There are at least 89 species of fish, 33 species of encrusting sponges, 28 species of bryozoans and 9 nudibranchs. With a sub tropical current flowing north and the West Auckland current flowing south-east the waters are home to both cooler and warm water species.
19 species of seabirds are found on and around the islands and about 10,000 seabirds nest there. The islands are also a home for the New Zealand fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri).
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