Kaipara Harbor
| Kaipara Harbor | ||
| Geographical location | ||
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| Coordinates | 36 ° 23 ′ S , 174 ° 13 ′ E | |
| Region ISO | NZ-NTL | |
| country | New Zealand | |
| region | Northland | |
| Sea access | Tasman Sea | |
| Data on the natural harbor | ||
| Port entrance | 6th 212 m wide | |
| length | around 40 km | |
| width | Max. 58 km | |
| surface | 950 km 2 | |
| Coastline | around 612 km | |
| Water depth | Max. 50 m | |
| Catchment area | 4th 170 km 2 | |
| places | Helensville , Tinopai , Shelly Beach | |
| Tributaries | Main tributary Wairoa River and numerous other rivers (see article) | |
| Islands | Manukapua Island , Moturemu Island | |
| Jetty | Tinopai , Shelly Beach | |
| Photography of the natural harbor | ||
 Aerial view of the southern part of Kaipara Harbor |
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| Remarks | ||
| the northern part of the natural harbor is part of the Northland region and the southern part is already part of the Auckland Council | ||
The Kaipara Harbor is a natural harbor on the Northland Peninsula of the North Island of New Zealand .
Origin of name
Kaipara in the Māori language means athletic or competition in competition .
According to a regional legend from the 15th century, the name Kaipara is said to be derived from the words for food kame and fern para , which the Te Arawa chief Kahumatamomoe named the area when certain fern roots were served as the main course at a festival .
geography
The Kaipara Harbor , with an area of 950 square kilometers the largest natural harbor in New Zealand. It extends in north-north-west-south-south-east direction over 58 km and extends from the west coast up to 40 km inland. With its ramified ramifications, the natural harbor has a 612 km long shoreline. The two largest bodies of water are 26 km long and up to 11 km wide in the north and 28 km long and up to 15 km wide in the south. The entrance to the natural harbor, called Kaipara Entrance , located between the two large basins, is 6.4 km wide and connects the natural harbor with the Tasman Sea . The deepest point of the water measures around 50 m.
On the sea side of the Kaipara Entrance there are several variable sandbanks and cliffs that make navigation by ship very difficult. Inland is the largest and three-part island of the natural harbor, Manukapua Island . A smaller island southeast of it, Moturemu Island , has been designated as a Scenic Reserve as a protected area.
By far the largest inflow of the natural harbor is the Wairoa River , which comes from the northwest .
- Other tributaries from the north come through: the Awaroa River , the Matakohe River , the Pahi River and the Arapaoa River ,
- coming from the east through the Wairau River , the Otamatea River , the Whakari River , the Oruawharo River , the Whanaki River and the Tauhoa River ,
- and from the south come through the Hoteo River , the Omaumau River , the Makarau River and the Kaipara River , which flows through Helensville and which ultimately gave its name to the natural harbor.
With 4170 km² the Kaipara Harbor with its tributaries drains almost half of the area of the Northland Peninsula .
From an administrative point of view, Kaipara Harbor is divided into two parts, the northern part including the Oruawharo River belongs to the Kaipara District , which belongs to the Northland region and the southern part including the Okahukura Peninsula originally belonged to the Rodney District and has been part of the Auckland Council since it was incorporated in 2010 managed.
history
The Kaipara area was first settled by Māori long before the navigator and explorer Captain James Cook discovered New Zealand in 1770 and also described the Kaipara Entrance . Today the area around Kaipara Harbor is inhabited by the Māori tribe of the Ngāti Whātua .
Use as a port
Despite its designation as Harbor (Port) natural harbor today is no longer as an economic port in use. Several strandings and ship accidents, especially in the port entrance, on the water depths and sandbanks , which are constantly changing due to ebb and flow , led to the cessation of shipping in the area in the 1950s . Remnants of former port facilities in the numerous settlements along the coastline are now increasingly used by sports boats and sailing boats. The Coast Guard has been operating in and in front of the port area since 1979.
Flora and fauna
With its ramified water arms, Kaipara Harbor is also an important wetland area. It is the habitat of numerous waders and the winter home of many bird species that come to New Zealand from the Asian region across the Pacific to winter. Every year in September around 30,000 waders, some even from Siberia , reach the natural harbor.
Tidal power plant project
At the beginning of December 2006, the Northland Regional Council was given a project to build a tidal power station in the entrance to Kaipara Harbor . The project envisaged the installation of turbines, the laying of the cables across the bay and the construction of the necessary transformer stations by 2011 with an investment of around 400 million New Zealand dollars (around 200 million euros). It was planned to install the turbines only about 16 feet (approx. 5 meters) below the middle waterline, which would have been possible due to the lack of economic use of the natural harbor. In 2013, the project ended for the time being, as the government relied more on electricity generation from wind power than in the future using tidal power plants.
See also
literature
- Kaipara Harbor Coastal - Environment Policy Review . In: Auckland Regional Council (Ed.): Technical Publication . No. 345 , 2007, ISBN 978-1-877416-85-9 (English, online [PDF; 753 kB ; accessed on April 16, 2017]).
- Kaipara Harbor Sediments - Information Review . In: Auckland Regional Council (Ed.): Technical Report . No. 055 , 2009, ISBN 978-1-877528-67-5 (English, online [PDF; 2.6 MB ; accessed on April 16, 2017]).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kaipara . Māori Dictionary , accessed April 16, 2017 .
- ^ A b Kaipara Harbor Coastal - Environment Policy Review . 2007, p. 4 .
- ↑ Measure lengths, latitudes and coordinates with Google Earth.
- ^ Kaipara Harbor Sediments - Information Review . 2009, p. 9 .
- ^ Kaipara Harbor Sediments - Information Review . 2009, p. 9-10 .
- ^ Kaipara Harbor Coastal - Environment Policy Review . 2007, p. 7 .
- ^ The wreck of the Sophia Pate - August 31, 1843 . In: New Zealand History . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , accessed April 16, 2017 .
- ↑ Kaipara . Coastguard Northern Region , accessed April 16, 2017 .
- ^ Kaipara Harbor A Coastal Wetland of International Importance . (PDF; 22 kB) (No longer available online.) Ramsar Convension for Wetlands , archived from the original on September 26, 2007 ; Retrieved on September 19, 2012 (English, original website no longer available, link to WaybackMachine from September 26, 2007).
- ^ Anthony Doesburg : Plug pulled on tidal turbine projects . New Zealand Herald , November 6, 2013, accessed April 16, 2017 .