The proposed Kermadecs Ocean Sanctuary stretches over 620,000 square kilometres of sea, pocked with small rocky islands and riddled with underwater volcanoes and deep trenches. It supports life not found anywhere else in the world. Yet the sanctuary?remains unratified; subject to a fisheries dispute currently before the courts and the rubber stamp of Parliament. What?s at stake?

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Why protect the Kermadecs?

Yet the sanctuary remains unratified; subject to a fisheries dispute currently before the courts and the rubber stamp of Parliament. What?s at stake?

Now, you be the judge

There is one prize still to be awarded in Photographer of the Year?the Panasonic People's Choice award. Cast your vote either at the exhibition at Auckland Museum, where all 65 finalists are now on display, or view the finalists on our website and vote online.

Photo: Alex Stammers

#SundayDoco: Away with the birds

Boobies, noddies, tropic-birds, parakeets and many other species are the only residents on treeless Macauley Island in the Kermadec Group.

Fire and water

Extending some 1400 kilometres northeast from the Bay of Plenty, the Kermadec Arc is the longest underwater volcanic ridge on the planet.

Submarine wonderland

When scientists visited the untouched world of the Kermadecs, they discovered an ecosystem unlike anything else in the country.

Brewster Hut

Offering a kea's-eye view of the country around Haast Pass, Brewster Hut sits about a kilometre vertically above the Haast Highway. It's a short day?s walk with a large reward.


	#NZGeoRadio

800,000 NEW ZEALANDERS AT RISK FROM WATER

Experts investigating the Havelock North gastro outbreak warn hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of getting sick and universal treatment of drinking water is needed.

GOOD NEWS FOR THE FOREST PENGUIN

Unlike most of their embattled penguin cousins, tawaki, or Fiordland crested penguins, are thriving in the dense forest of Milford Sound.

ON THE HUNT FOR URBAN LIZARDS

A small area of rubbish-strewn, scrubby wind-blasted vegetation, sandwiched between Wellington Harbour and a busy road, is a surprisingly rich lizard hotspot.