Location Westland District Population (?) | Total islands 2 | |
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The Open Bay Islands are located off the south-west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The group comprises two main islands Taumaka and Popotai plus several smaller islets and rocks. They lie approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) offshore from the Okuru River mouth, near Haast and are owned by Poutini Ngai Tahu.
Contents
Map of Open Bay Islands, Haast, New Zealand
Taumaka is the larger island (c. 20 ha or 49 acres, 660 m or 722 yd long and 260 m or 284 yd wide reaching a plateau 21 m or 69 ft above sea level) and is separated from Popotai (400 m or 437 yd long and 200 m or 219 yd wide) by a narrow channel.
WildlifeEdit
The Open Bay Islands support several endemic species, including a terrestrial leech (Hirudobdella antipodum), an undescribed gecko species (aff. Hoplodactylus granulatus), and a skink - the Open Bay Islands skink. Taumaka Island has been identified as an Important Bird Area, by BirdLife International because it is a breeding site for Fiordland penguins. New Zealand fur seals currently numbering in thousands recolonize and show some recoveries after ceases of commercial sealing. Hector's dolphins and bottlenose dolphins (occasional) are present at Jackson Bay, and migratory southern right and humpback whales are also expectable. Great white sharks have also been confirmed in the area.
WekasEdit
Although introduced mammals are not known ever to have reached the islands, the introduction of weka (a native flightless rail, Gallirallus australis) from the South Island in the early 1900s is believed to have had an adverse impact on the flora and fauna of the islands. The Department of Conservation have recommended to the Minister of Conservation that weka should be removed from the islands. The Trust which governs the island agreed to having them removed on the condition that they are not killed.
CastawaysEdit
A sealing gang with ten members was brought to the islands by the Active from Sydney. The men had very basic provisions: some food, salt, an axe, an adze, and a cooper’s drawing knife. The ship, which left the islands on 16 February 1810, was not seen again, and the sealing gang was assumed to have been lost with the ship. After years of considerable hardship, they finally saw a ship, the Governor Bligh, and attracted its attention. They were picked up and arrived back in Sydney on 15 December 1813.
The men's fate has been turned into a song, Davy Low'ston, that tells their ordeal.