Whangateau Harbour
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The Whangateau Harbour is a natural
harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...
in
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. It is a sandspit estuary, located on the north-eastern coast of the
Auckland Region Auckland () is one of the 16 regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban areas of New Zealand, urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland, Auckland metropolitan area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands o ...
north-east of
Matakana Matakana is a small town in the Rodney Ward of Auckland Council of New Zealand. Warkworth lies about 9 km (5½ miles) to the south-west, Snells Beach the same distance to the south, Ōmaha is about 7 km (4¼ miles) to the east, and ...
, and empties into the
Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Paphies australis, pipi), the harbour is a popular spot for shellfish gathering.


Geography

The Whangateau Harbour is a sandspit estuary, separated from Ōmaha Bay by a sandspit, where the town of
Ōmaha Ōmaha is a small beach town on Ōmaha Bay in the Auckland Region, in the north of New Zealand. It is located 74.7 km north of central Auckland. It is on a sandspit that adjoins Tāwharanui Peninsula and separates Whangateau Harbour from ...
is located. The modern harbour formed during the
Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
, after the formation of the sandspit. Horseshoe Island is an exposed sand-bar located in the centre of the harbour. The Whangateau Harbour has almost complete tidal flushing, meaning it has some of the best water quality for a harbour in New Zealand.


Flora and fauna

The harbour has a wide range of intertidal and subtidal reefs, supporting a wide range of benthic wildlife. High numbers of '' Scutus breviculus'', octopuses and Australasian sea cucumbers live in the estuary. The harbour has dense beds of shellfish, primarily pipi (''
Paphies australis ''Paphies australis'' or pipi (from the Māori language) is a bivalve mollusc of the family (biology), family Mesodesmatidae, endemic to New Zealand.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Paphies australis (Gmelin, 1791). Accessed through: Wo ...
''). The Harbour is made up of mangals composed of trees rather than bushes. There are a number of different types of
algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...
, which house
isopoda Isopoda is an order of crustaceans. Members of this group are called isopods and include both aquatic species and terrestrial species such as woodlice. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed l ...
and
amphipoda Amphipoda () is an order (biology), order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods () range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 10,700 amphip ...
. It is also home to the
tunnelling mud crab The tunnelling mud crab, ''Austrohelice crassa'', is a marine large-eyed crab of the family Grapsidae, endemic to the sea coasts of New Zealand. Their carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number o ...
and different types of
oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...
. The harbour is a popular spot to collect shellfish. It has been well-studied, due to the harbour's close location to the Leigh Marine Laboratory. In 2009, the area experienced a mortality event of
cockles Cockle may refer to: * Cockle (bivalve), an edible, marine bivalve mollusc * ''Lolium temulentum'' (also cockle), an annual plant of the family Poaceae * Berwick cockle, a white-coloured sweet with red stripes * ''Cockle'', a codename for the fo ...
, with an 84% reduction in the large cockle population from the previous year. A further event took place in 2014, with the beds being closed to harvesting while samples were sent to the
Ministry for Primary Industries The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing, managing and regulating the farming, fishing, food, animal welfare, biosecurity, and forestry sectors of New Zealand's primary ...
.


History

The Whangateau Harbour is within the traditional
rohe The Māori people of New Zealand use the word ' to describe the territory or boundaries of tribes (, although some divide their into several . Background In 1793, chief Tuki Te Terenui Whare Pirau who had been brought to Norfolk Island drew ...
of
Ngāti Manuhiri Ngāti Manuhiri is a Māori iwi of the Mahurangi Peninsula area of New Zealand. They have an interest in the region from the Ōkura River in the south to Mangawhai in the north, and extending out to Great Barrier Island. They are descended from ...
. The name Whāngateau was a traditional
Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...
name for the harbour, and refers to the strong tidal currents in the estuary. The harbour and surrounding Mahurangi area was first settled in the 14th century by
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
, descendants of the ''
Moekākara In Māori tradition, ''Moekākara'' was one of the great ocean-going, voyaging canoes that was used in the migrations that settled New Zealand. It was captained by Tāhuhunui-o-te-rangi, the ancestor of Ngāi Tāhuhu. The canoe first landed at ...
'', ''
Tainui Tainui is a tribal waka (canoe), waka confederation of New Zealand Māori people, Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki Māori, Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapo ...
'', '' Arawa'' migratory canoes. By the 16th century, the
Tāmaki Māori Tāmaki Māori are Māori ''iwi'' and ''hapū'' (tribes and sub-tribes) who have a strong connection to Tāmaki Makaurau (the Auckland Region), and whose rohe was traditionally within the region. Among Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau (the M ...
who settled in the region begun to be known by the name
Ngā Oho Ngā Oho, also known as Ngā Ohomatakamokamo-o-Ohomairangi, is the name of a historical iwi (tribe) of Māori who settled in the Auckland Region. In the 17th century, Ngā Oho and two other tribes of shared heritage, Ngā Riki and Ngā Iwi, form ...
. The tribal affiliation
Ngāti Manuhiri Ngāti Manuhiri is a Māori iwi of the Mahurangi Peninsula area of New Zealand. They have an interest in the region from the Ōkura River in the south to Mangawhai in the north, and extending out to Great Barrier Island. They are descended from ...
began in the 17th century, and refers to Manuhiri, one of the four sons of the
Te Kawerau ā Maki Te Kawerau ā Maki, Te Kawerau a Maki, or Te Kawerau-a-Maki is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) of the Auckland Region of New Zealand. Predominantly based in West Auckland (Hikurangi also known as Waitākere), it had 251 registered adult members as of J ...
rangatira Maki. Prior to European settlement, six fortified
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 ...
defended the harbour, and the harbour (especially the Waikokopu to the south) were an important source of Paphies australis, pipi and tuangi (cockles). The harbour was associated with the kūaka (
bar-tailed godwit The bar-tailed godwit (''Limosa lapponica'') is a large and strongly migratory wader in the family Scolopacidae, which feeds on bristle-worms and shellfish on coastal mudflats and estuaries. It has distinctive red breeding plumage, long legs, ...
), which were traditionally harvested in the summer-time. Ngāti Manuhiri settled the harbour until the late 19th century, however members of Ngāti Manuhiri have returned to the harbour in modern times. In the 1850s, land around the harbour was purchased by
Ranulph Dacre Ranulph Dacre (23 April 1797 – 27 June 1884) was a British master mariner and merchant active in Australia and New Zealand. Early life He was born to George and Julia Dacre at Marwell Hall, Hampshire, England on 23 April 1797. His father was ...
. Between 1942 and 1963, 380,000 cubic metres of sand were mined from the Mangatawhiri Spit, leading to coastal erosion at Omaha. Land use around the harbour intensified in the 1960s, and in the 1970s the Omaha causeway was constructed, creating an east-west bridge between Omaha and Point Wells over the Waikokopu Creek.


References

{{Rodney Local Board Area Warkworth Subdivision Geography of Auckland Rodney Local Board Area Ports and harbours of New Zealand