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The remote Kermadec Islands lie about 1000 kilometres northeast of northern New Zealand. There are five islands in the archipelago, the only visible parts of a chain of about 80 volcanoes, that stretches for 2,600 km between Tonga and New Zealand

From south to north the islands are tiny L’Esperance Rock, Curtis and Cheeseman islands, Macauley Island and the largest, Raoul Island. They are the only part of New Zealand that is truly subtropical, but what interests me are the fishes, and they include tropical and temperate species as well as subtropical species.

I first visited these difficult-to-reach islands in 1985, when I made two trips in quick succession: the first on a fisheries research vessel, and just a month later as part of a private diving expedition on a small yacht, in the company of other marine biologists, including the late Roger Grace. I was fascinated by the presence of coral, and the relative lack of marine algae compared to mainland New Zealand. But mostly I was impressed by the abundance of Galapagos sharks (Carcharhinus galapagensis) and large spotted black grouper (Epinephelus daemelii), which can reach 170 cm in length. Because of the islands’ isolation, the spotted black grouper hadn’t been fished, and they were fearless and inquisitive. Roger took a photo of me with a grouper which seemed as curious about me as I was about it!

Around mainland New Zealand, however, large species such as the grouper, along with hāpuku (Polyprion oxygeneios) and bass (P. americanus), were increasingly rare due to overfishing, and fishers were turning their attention to places such as the Kermadecs.

On my return to New Zealand, I wrote a report recommending that the seas around the Kermadec Islands be designated as a marine reserve, to protect the spotted black grouper, the intact assemblage of large fish and the pristine marine ecosystem. This added support to a previous suggestion and had the support of other marine biologists as well the New Zealand Underwater Association, and just five years later the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve was gazetted. It covers 745,000 hectares, and includes the waters around all the islands and rocks, out to the edge of the Territorial Sea (12 nautical miles).

It was a delight to return to the islands in 1992, and to be able to dive in its fully protected waters, knowing the Galapagos sharks and spotted black groupers were safe.

Those early trips also sparked an interest in recording the fish species that I saw there, and I’ll write more about this in a future blog. In the meantime, I have just finished sharing 330 images of fishes from the Kermadec Islands to iNaturalist, taken during the five trips I have made to these remarkable isolated islands.

View all my Kermadec observations.