The uniqueness of underwater environment in Fiordland comes from the combination of steep mountains, heavy rainfall and surrounding rain-forest. Rain washes through the leafs covering the forest soil and pours into the fiords, coloring the surface waters with a dark tea color. This colored fresh water floats on top of the sea water (which is heavier) and creates a layer about three meters deep across much of the fiords.

The environmental conditions caused by this layer restrict most of the marine life to the top forty meters, and create a special environment where species like red and black corals and sea pens can live at much shallower depths than normal. Close to the fiord entrances, fresh and salt waters are mixed by the waves creating unique marine communities.

In addition to invertebrates, fishes and seaweeds, Fiordland provides habitat for bottlenose dolphins, New Zealand fur seals, Fiordland crested penguins, little blue penguins and a variety of visiting whales.

Rules For Marine Reserves

All marine life is totally protected. No fishing, netting, taking or killing of marine life. No polluting, disturbance or damage. No removal of any natural thing from the marine reserve.

Diving, swimming, kayaking and jet boating are permitted while boat fishing, shore fishing, shellfish gathering and fossicking are prohibited.

Milford Sound Marine Reserve

This reserve was established in 1993 and together with The Gut Marine Reserve in Doubtful Sound became the first marine reserve in Fiordland. The reserve’s Maori name, Piopiotahi, means “one native thrush” The Piopio was a ground-feeding bird that declined rapidly after the introduction of mammalian predators such as stoats and rats. Milford Sound Marine Reserve covers an area of 690 hectares along the northern side of Milford Sound, from the head of the Sound to Dale Point. The underwater habitats it covers are mostly deep muddy fiord basin, with a large section of deep reef and a small section of shallow rock wall along the shore.

Milford Sound Marine Reserve is one of the most popular diving spots in Fiordland for black corals watching.

Sutherland Sound Marine Reserve

This marine reserve covers 449 hectares of marine habitat. It was established in 2005. Sutherland Sound Marine Reserve is probably the least visited, which is probably due to the shallow sill at the entrance to the fiord which makes accessing the reserve by boat dangerous as ocean waves often break across the shallow entrance. During one of very few research trips to the reserve, a unique environment was observed within the very isolated basin which is connected to the sea by a narrow channel. Marine animals seen while diving included flounder, dogfish and many rock crabs and juvenile starfish.

Clio Rocks (Hawea) Marine Reserve

Hawea Marine Reserve covers 411 hectares of marine habitat and was established also in 2005. Most of the reserve is deep basin habitat, but there are also large areas of sheltered shallow rock wall habitat and deep reef or rock wall habitat. Underwater mapping of the reserve shows mostly steep rock walls on the shaded western side of the reserve, compared with more broken rocky reefs on the more sun-lit eastern side of the reserve. The near-vertical rock walls of “turn Round Point” are a special feature of the reserve, with abundant reef fishes and invertebrates feeding on plankton swept past in the high tidal flow. Black corals are relatively abundant along the rock walls in this area.

If you liked this article and would like to read the second part of it, you can find it here: Fiordland Marine Reserves Part 2