Treasures of the sea

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• Home
• Executive Summary
• 1.0 Introduction
• 2.0 Methods
• 3.1 The Oceanography of the New Zealand Marine Ecoregion
• 3.2 Cetaceans, seals, and seabirds
  • 1. Subantarctic Islands (and continental shelf areas to 500m depth)
  • 2. Chatham Islands
  • 3. Chatham Rise
  • 4. Stewart Island
  • 5. South Island southern and eastern shelf edge
  • 6. Otago/Catlins Shelf
  • 7. Northeast South Island
  • 8. West coast of South island
  • 9. North coast of South Island
  • 10. Trench zone
  • 11. Coastal shelf and edge of the southeast coast and East Cape of the North Island
  • 12. Hauraki/northeast coast of North Island
  • 13. West coast of North island
  • 14. Three Kings Islands
  • 15. West coast basin
  • 16. Kermadec Islands
  • References and further reading
• 3.3 Fishes
• 3.4 Benthic invertebrates, algae, and plants
• 3.5 Information gaps
• 3.6 Future steps for the future of Biodiversity
• 4.0 Discussion
• 5.0 References
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• Appendix 4

2. Chatham Islands

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Map ID Number: 2

Location: 860 km east of New Zealand's south island on the Chatham Rise

Approximate area: 14,334km ²

• Description of area
• Biological attributes
• Criteria applied
• Status and management
• State of information
• References and further reading

Description of area:

The Chatham Islands are the most easterly island group in the New Zealand marine zone. They sit atop the Chatham Rise, a submarine plateau that extends eastward from the South Island. In this zone subantarctic and subtropical elements intermix. There are complex currents and eddies associated with the shelf edges and subterranean features of the area.

Biological attributes:

The habitat of this area provides island breeding locations close to productive feeding areas for seabirds. Many species feed close to the breeding islands. A mix of breeding species is found on the Chatham Islands, with feeding ranges extending to the subtropical waters in the north, the subantarctic waters in the south, and to the pelagic areas and over the submarine volcanic chains to the east. The islands are known for massstrandings of whales and oceanic dolphins, indicating large populations in the surrounding waters. They are also the type-locality (the site where the specimen used to describe the species originated) for two beaked whales (Mesoplodon grayi and M. traversii). The ocean around the Chatham Islands is rich in marine life, supporting valuable fishing resources for people and animals. There are internationally significant populations of seabirds and nationally significant populations of whales, dolphins, and seals.

There is a high level of endemism in the seabird fauna of the Chatham Islands. Seven albatross species breed on the islands. One of the species (Chatham Island albatross) is a local endemic, and four are endemic to the New Zealand region – two of which have the vast majority of the population on the Chatham Islands (northern royal and Pacific albatrosses). The Chatham Islands blue penguin (Eudyptula minor chathamensis) is the islands’ only penguin species, and is a subspecies endemic to the islands. The Chatham Island oystercatcher (Haematopus chathamensis) is endemic and classified as endangered. Thirteen petrel species live in the Chatham Islands, two of which (taiko or magenta petrel (Pterodroma magentae) and Chatham Island petrel (Pterodroma axillaris)) are endemic and endangered. The islands are home to 2 cormorant species (Chatham Island and Pitt shags), both of which are endemic, and 4 tern and gull species, one of which is endemic. The Chatham Islands also have a fur seal population that is recovering from significant human impact to be one of the major New Zealand groups of colonies.

Criteria applied:

Endemism; species richness; species diversity; conservation status/threat classification.

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Status and management:

The Chatham Islands have the highest levels of endemism and greatest number of endangered seabird species of any New Zealand area. The endemism and endangered status of these seabirds is primarily related to modification of habitat and introduced predators combined with restricted breeding sites. About 50% of the bird species (land and marine) present at the time of European contact are today either extinct, endangered or severely reduced in numbers. Approximately 20% of New Zealand's threatened bird fauna occur on the Chatham Islands.

The main seabird fauna is confined to outer islands and islets after human modification of the two main islands. The three island groups with albatrosses are in private Maori ownership while other significant bird sites are mostly island reserves or part of the main island reserve. There are no marine mammals endemic to the islands. On the main Chatham Island there are predator control programmes to improve the productivity and survival of the endangered Chatham Island oystercatcher and taiko.

State of information:

There is much information available for endemic and endangered species currently under extensive conservation management(e.g. Aikman et al. 2001, Aikman and Miskelly 2004).

References and further reading:

Aikman et al. (2001), Aikman and Miskelly (2004), Bell and Robertson (1994), Department of Conservation Canterbury Conservancy (1996), Department of Conservation (1996, 1999b), Holdaway (1994), Taylor (2000).