The Sugar Loaf Islands (often Sugarloaf; , ) are a collection of five small uninhabited islands and several

sea stack A stack or sea stack is a geological landform consisting of a steep and often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea near a coast, formed by wave erosion. Stacks are formed over time by wind and water, processes of coastal geomorphology. ...

s near

Port Taranaki Port Taranaki is a port complex located in New Plymouth, New Zealand. It is the only deep water port on the west coast of New Zealand, and is owned by the Taranaki Regional Council. The port handles a wide range of coastal and international ...

, New Zealand. The largest, Moturoa Island, covers approximately . Motumahanga is the island farthest from shore, at approximately . Ngā Motu was one of the first areas inhabited by descendants of

Te Whiti o Rongomai Te Whiti o Rongomai III ( – 18 November 1907) was a Māori people, Māori spiritual leader and founder of the village of Parihaka, in New Zealand's Taranaki Region, Taranaki region. A proponent of nonviolence, Te Whiti established Parihaka ...

, and the islands and reefs were all named by the Ngāti Te Whiti

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

. The island group was given its English name in 1770 by

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

because they reminded him of the way sugar was stored in heaps in Europe. The Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area (SLIMPA) was established in 1991 to protect the area from oil exploration. This strengthened the protection that had been in place since the formation of a

marine park A marine park is a designated park consisting of an area of sea (or lake) set aside to achieve ecological sustainability, promote marine awareness and understanding, enable marine recreational activities, and provide benefits for Indigenous peo ...

in 1986. In 2013

New Plymouth District Council New Plymouth District Council () is the territorial authority for the New Plymouth District of New Zealand. The council consists of the mayor of New Plymouth, , and 14 ward councillors. Composition Councillors * Mayor, * Councillors at Lar ...

unanimously agreed to gift the protected area back to the government for treaty settlement negotiations with

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

and

Te Āti Awa Te Āti Awa or Te Ātiawa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Taranaki and Wellington regions of New Zealand. Approximately 17,000 people registered their affiliation to Te Āti Awa in 2001, with about 10,000 in Taranaki, 2,000 in We ...

iwi.

Islands

The Sugar Loaf Islands can be divided into inner and outer island groups. The inner islands comprise Mataora (Round Rock), Pararaki (Seagull Rock) and Motuotamatea (Snapper Rock). Mataora connects to the mainland at low tides as a

tombolo A tombolo is a sandy or shingle isthmus. It is a deposition landform by which an island becomes attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar. Once attached, the island is then known as a tied island. The word ''t ...

, as does Motuotamatea on very low

spring tides Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...

. Pararaki is separated from Mataora by a 20 meter wide channel. The outer islands comprise Motumahanga (Saddleback Island) and Moturoa. Several small rock outcrops are included in the island group. Waikaranga (Seal Rocks), and Tokatapu are several hundred meters offshore. Close to Moturoa lie Whareumu (Lion Rock), a vegetated stack and two barren rocks, and Tokomapuna (Barrett Reef).

Mikotahi

Mikotahi was formerly a

tidal island A tidal island is a raised area of land within a waterbody, which is connected to the larger mainland by a natural isthmus or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide, causing the land to switch between being ...

, with a historic

pā The word pā (; often spelled pa in English) can refer to any Māori people, Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive :wikt:terrace, terraces – and also to fo ...

. In 1865 the Alpha well was drilled near Mikotahi. This was the first oil well in what is now the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

and one of the first in the world. The earth works to reclaim land for the

New Plymouth Power Station The New Plymouth Power Station (NPPS) was a 600 MW thermal power station at New Plymouth, New Zealand, that operated from 1974 to 2008. Located at Port Taranaki, it was dual fuelled on natural gas and fuel oil. Constructed at a time of major hy ...

reduced the island's size and permanently connected it to the mainland. There is a trig site on what remains to this day, Mikotahi point. Mikotahi had a neighbouring stack that was connected to the mainland at the base of Paritutu. The people from Moturoa called it Fishing Rock. With caves, rockpools and surrounding beaches it was mostly destroyed from excavations for the cooling water inlet and land reclamation for the power station.

Blasting and mining

In the early 20th century Moturoa and Whareumu (Lion Rock) were blasted with explosives in the hope to connect the islands to Mikotahi and the growing port at Moturoa. After this was abandoned focus turned to mining Paritutu. The appearance of the two islands was changed greatly as a result of this work.

Human habitation

Mataora, Motu-o-Tamatea, Moturoa Island, and Mikotahi were hunting, fishing and gathering grounds and places of refuge for local inhabitants and the

and

for hundreds of years.

Marine protected area

In 1986, an area encompassing the Sugar Loaf Islands was protected as a marine park. Concern over oil exploration led to strengthening of the protection, through the enacting of the 1991 Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Park Act. An area of , including of land, encompassing the islands and surrounding seabed and ocean spanning from

in the north to Herekawe Stream in the south, was protected from commercial and recreational fishing and from mining. The act deemed Moturoa Island, Motumahanga, Waikaranga, and Whareumu as sanctuary areas requiring a permit for entry, with the remaining area a conservation park. Reef heron,

little blue penguin The little penguin (''Eudyptula minor'') is the smallest species of penguin. It originates from New Zealand. It is commonly known as the fairy penguin, little blue penguin, or blue penguin, owing to its slate-blue plumage and is also known by ...

New Zealand fur seal ''Arctocephalus forsteri'' (common names include the Australasian fur seal, South Australian fur seal, New Zealand fur seal, Antipodean fur seal, or long-nosed fur seal) is a species of fur seal found mainly around southern Australia and New Z ...

, and

orca The orca (''Orcinus orca''), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'', it is recognizable by its black-and-white-patterned body. A cosmopol ...

are monitored species in the area. The islands are on migration routes for oceanic birds,

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

s, and

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

s. In 2008, the Tapuae Marine Reserve was established adjacent to the Sugar Loaf Island Marine Protected Area (SLIMPA).

Geology

The Sugar Loaf Islands, along with onshore pinnacles such as Paritutu (), represent the oldest volcanic activity on the Taranaki peninsula. Dating between 1.7 and 1.74 million years of age, the islands are believed to be the remains of a

ring fracture (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

or feeders to eroded

volcanic vent A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

s, and are composed of a

porphyritic Porphyritic is an adjective used in geology to describe igneous rocks with a distinct difference in the size of mineral crystals, with the larger crystals known as phenocrysts. Both extrusive and intrusive rocks can be porphyritic, meaning ...

hornblende Hornblende is a complex silicate minerals#Inosilicates, inosilicate series of minerals. It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole. Hornblende minerals are common ...

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

. Volcanic activity in Taranaki subsequently shifted to Kaitake (580,000 years ago), then migrated southeast to Pouakai (230,000 years ago) and the current centre of activity,

(last erupted in 1755). The Sugar Loaf Islands are the type locality of

taranakite Taranakite is a hydrated alkali iron-aluminium phosphate mineral with chemical formula . It forms from the reaction of clay minerals or aluminous rocks with solutions enriched in phosphate derived from bat or bird guano or, less commonly, f ...

, a phosphate mineral that forms from the reaction of bird

guano Guano (Spanish from ) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. Guano is a highly effective fertiliser due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a le ...

with the aluminous rocks comprising the islands. This was the first new mineral species to be discovered in New Zealand.

References

External links

Map of the Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area and Tapuae Marine Reserve

DOC DOC, Doc, doc or DoC may refer to: People and characters * Doc, an abbreviation of doctor * Doc (nickname) * Doc (mascot), the Towson University mascot Persons * The D.O.C., American rapper (born 1968) * Doc Gallows (born 1983), ring nam ...

{{Authority control Islands of Taranaki Volcanoes of Taranaki Marine reserves of New Zealand Stacks of New Zealand Uninhabited islands of New Zealand Volcanic islands of New Zealand Volcanic plugs of New Zealand Pleistocene volcanoes New Plymouth Islands of the Tasman Sea Tidal islands of New Zealand