Hannah Smith was the recipient of a Summer Student Internship with Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. Hannah has written this blog about her experience. The Noises Islands sit just 24km North-East of Auckland and are a prime example…
An area of the seafloor around Ōtata used to be densely covered with scallops (tupa or kuakua in te reo) along with horse mussels, dog cockles, sponges, and rhodolith beds. Despite having a scallop fishing season whose purpose is to…
A new series by marine conservation charity Live Ocean, in partnership with New Zealand Geographic, records the voices of those who can remember the former bounty of the Hauraki Gulf - their Songs of the Sea. It asks the question;…
The Noises remain largely unknown, so a big part of our work is to communicate with people in positions of influence about why The Noises are special and why protection is needed. At the end of January, the Neureuter family…
A new seabird species has chosen The Noises as its home. The Cook’s petrel (Tītī) has been found breeding on Ōtata Island. In November 2020, seabird experts Dr Matt Rayner (Auckland Museum) and Dr Gaia Dell’Ariccia (Auckland Council) discovered a…
On the main beach of Ōtata Island there is a Māori midden about 50 metres in length. In March 2020 Auckland Museum archaeologists carried out a small excavation on the midden in partnership with the Neureuter family and Ngāi Tai…
It’s day 25 of the lockdown and there are definitely some differences out here at the Noises. The seasons have certainly changed since we have been here but it’s much more than that. The most obvious change is the lack…
I spend hours in the water snorkelling, looking at stuff and wondering. Since 11 January the strong southwesterly winds have mostly decreased. The temperatures have been getting steadily warmer and we’ve been treated to beautiful clear water. I don’t think…
We know what Matt Rayner (Auckland Museum), Tim Lovegrove and Todd Landers (Auckland Council) were hoping to achieve when they installed dummy 3D printed spotted shags, complete with an acoustic attraction system on Ōtata a year ago. But, who’d have…