Bay of Plenty
The Bay of Plenty is a bay on the North Island of New Zealand . It is located in the region of the same name .
geography
It extends from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. The region is bounded in the west by the Kaimai Range and the Mamaku Plateau and extends into the sparsely populated forest areas around Rotorua , Kawerau and Murupara . There are several islands in the bay, the best known are Mayor Island , Motiti Island and Whale Island , as well as the active volcano of White Island .
Origin of name
The bay was given its name by James Cook in October or November of 1769. Cook named it Bay of Plenty after discovering rich food supplies in several villages of Māori . This was in great contrast to the observations he had previously made in Poverty Bay .
Ship disaster
In 2011 there was an oil spill in the Bay of Plenty . The Rena container ship, owned by a Greek shipping company, landed under the Liberian flag on the Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga . In weeks of rescue operations, the majority of the originally around 2000 tons of heavy fuel oil on board the ship could be pumped out, although the ship itself even broke apart. However, around 400 tons ended up in the sea, causing the death of 2,000 sea birds. In addition, some beaches had to be cleaned of heavy oil pollution, which, according to New Zealand authorities, cost NZ $ 130 million . Due to the largely successful pumping, the bay was spared even greater impairments.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rena cleanup cost jumps to $ 130m . TVNZ - OneNews , February 7, 2012, accessed June 30, 2014 .
Coordinates: 37 ° 16 ' S , 176 ° 48' E