Kaipara Harbour

Kaipara Harbour

The Kaipara Harbour is a very large harbour / inlet of the Tasman Sea located near the base of the North Auckland Peninsula, on the western side of the North Island of New Zealand.

According to tradition, the Kaipara is called after a hāngi Taramainuku hosted at Pouto in the 15th century CE, at which the para fern ("Marattia salicina") was served. "Kai" means food in the Māori language.cite book|title=The Unknown Kaipara|last=Byrne|first=Brian|isbn=0-473-08831-2|year=2002|pages=p 4]

Geography

The harbour is one of the largest in the world. It is a very broad shallow harbour covering an area of convert|500|km2|sqmi and has more than convert|3200|km|mi of shoreline. [cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/Places/Auckland/AucklandPlaces/6/en|title=Kaipara Harbour and kauri towns|encyclopedia=Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand] It extends for some convert|60|km|mi from north to south, and has a convert|4|km|mi|adj=on wide entrance to the Tasman Sea halfway along its length. The Wairoa River has its outflow into the northern end of the harbour. Several large arms extend into the interior of the peninsula at the northeast of the harbour, one of them ending near the town of Maungaturoto, only ten kilometres (6 mi) from the Pacific Ocean coast.

Human use

Administratively, the lower part of the harbour lies within the Auckland Region, while the upper half is within the Northland Region. The northern area lies in the Kaipara District.

The Kaipara is rarely used for shipping, owing to the treacherous tides and bars at its mouth. For this reason, no large settlements lie close to its shores, although many small communities lie along its coastline.

In 2008, Crest Energy, a power company, received resource consent to install around 200 large underwater turbines in the Kaipara Harbour, which would use the substantial tidal flows experienced every day near the harbour mouth (reaching 9 km/h) to produce electricity for approximately 250,000 homes. However, while the Department of Conservation has approved the project, and has made substantial environmental monitoring conditions part of the consent, the project also had many objectors on the grounds of claimed influences on the local fauna and flora. Appeals before the Environment Court are still likely. ["Harnessing tidal power not all smooth sailing" - "The Business Herald" (insert of the "The New Zealand Herald"), Friday 29 August 2008, Page 22]

References


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