15. Cook Strait
Map ID Number: 15
Location: Between North and South Island
Approximate area: 1,372km2
Description of area:
The Cook Strait has high velocity semidiurnal tidal flows. There are deep canyons at the Strait’s eastern end bringing deep water faunas close to one of New Zealand’s largest urban areas. Vertical mixing of the water column and associated increased productivity in and around the canyons helps to sustain a more varied and abundant midwater and bottom dwelling fauna than the adjacent shelf.
Biological attributes:
The Cook Strait is a mixing zone for fauna and flora of northern and southern waters. The rocky reefs of the area have high algal diversity. The largest known rhodolith beds (free-living crustose coralline red algae), are found in Cook Strait. Dense aggregations of brittle stars are found at the head of the Cook Strait Canyon.
Criteria applied:
Species diversity; meeting ground; representation.
Status and management:
Most benthic species are not exploited but may be subject to bycatch in bottom trawling operations. A protected area of shallow waters lies within the Cook Strait power cable zone.
State of information:
Not recorded during the workshop.
References and further reading:
Foster (2001), Nelson et al. (1992).