Physical Environment
This area covers the northern tip of the North Island from Scott Point at the northern end of Ninety Mile Beach, north to Cape Reinga, east to North Cape, and south to Ohao Point. It includes Scott Point, Twilight Beach, Cape Maria van Diemen, Te Werahi Beach, Cape Reinga, Spirits Bay, Tom Bowling Bay, North Cape, Waikuku Beach, Ohao Point, and the numerous smaller points, bays and beaches between.
This coastline is a varied combination of exposed sandy bays and beaches, rocky points, platforms and cliffs. The area is influenced to the west by the warm saline waters of the Westland Current, and to the north and east by the subtropical East Auckland Current.
The surrounding land is hill country, coastal dunefields and wetlands. A large part of the catchment is covered in mixed exotic and indigenous scrub, and coastal forest remnants are present on some cliff and coastal valleys. Much of the land is farmed and there is a large pine plantation southeast of Spirits Bay.
The Reinga area is classified by DOC as a site of national importance due to the presence of numerous locally endemic species.
Flora & Fauna
The coastal flora and fauna of the points, platforms, reefs and cliffs is typical of northern exposed hard shorelines. The species diversity is high, often with distinct zones of plants and animals, ranging from the lichens, periwinkles and limpets at the top of the intertidal zone, through barnacles, turfing algae and numerous species of molluscs in the mid-tidal zone, to dense kelp beds with associated populations of molluscs, kina, crabs and other crustacea. Bull kelp occurs from Cape Maria van Diemen to Spirits Bay. Eastern algal species Carpophyllum angustifolium and C. plumosum do not extend past North Cape. Sub-tidal habitats between Cape Maria van Diemen and North Cape are also unusual in their lack of algal turf and paint, the absence of the seaweed Carpophyllum maschalocarpum , and their reef-fish assemblages (e.g. the co-occurrence of fish populations of Odax cyanoallix and Odax pullus ). Water off North Cape is considered a nursery area for the packhorse lobster ( Jasus verreaux ), with the main fishery for the adults occurring off Cape Reinga. Species of marine invertebrates that are thought to be endemic to this area are Mesoginella valei, Maoricrypta youngi, Cominella necopinata, Sigapatella superstes and Exomilopsis hipkinsi (DOC, 1990).
Most of the beaches and embayments are exposed, have a low diversity of species and are similar in many respects to Ninety Mile Beach. Coastal birds that nest on the beaches or offshore islands include the NZ dotterel ( Charadrius obscurus ), variable oystercatcher ( Haematopus unicolor ), grey-faced petrel ( Pterodroma macroptera ), black-winged petrel ( P. nigripennis ), sooty shearwater ( Puffinus griseus ), diving petrel ( Pelecanoides urinatrix ) and northern blue penguin ( Eudyptula minor ) (DOC, 1990).
On shore the coastal vegetation has been highly modified by historical clearing for agriculture, residential areas, plantation forestry and quarrying, but there are remnants of indigenous forest and scrub, and wetland and dunefields which are of high natural value. Wetlands backing Spirits Bay and Tom Bowling Bay are important breeding and feeding grounds for birds, including the NZ dotterel, banded dotterel, black swan, grey duck, pied shag and spotless crake (King et al., 1985.).
References:
Department of Conservation (1990). Coastal Resource Inventory - First order survey: Northland Conservancy. Compiled by Tim Shaw & Joan Maingay.
King, K. J., Bailey, K. N., & Clark, M. R. (1985). Coastal and marine ecological areas of New Zealand - A preliminary classification for conservation purposes. Department of Lands and Survey.
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