Richard Robinson

Subantarctic

Scattered across the world’s southern seas are some of nature’s richest havens, the subantarctic islands—and New Zealand administers more of them than any other country.

Written by       Photographed by Richard Robinson

Guano-enriched soils, a year-round abundance of moisture, predominantly cloudy skies and long summer daylight hours are some of the factors botanists believe may have led to the megaherb phenomenon. With its pink flower heads the size of tennis balls, Anisotome latifolia, found on both Auckland and Campbell Islands, is one of the most striking of the group. This aromatic herb was grazed heavily during the years when sheep and cattle were farmed on the islands—not surprising, considering it is in the same family as carrot, parsnip, parsley, celery, fennel and coriander. With the removal of stock in recent years, all the megaherbs are reclaiming their turf.
Guano-enriched soils, a year-round abundance of moisture, predominantly cloudy skies and long summer daylight hours are some of the factors botanists believe may have led to the megaherb phenomenon. With its pink flower heads the size of tennis balls, Anisotome latifolia, found on both Auckland and Campbell Islands, is one of the most striking of the group. This aromatic herb was grazed heavily during the years when sheep and cattle were farmed on the islands—not surprising, considering it is in the same family as carrot, parsnip, parsley, celery, fennel and coriander. With the removal of stock in recent years, all the megaherbs are reclaiming their turf.
In recognition of the unique marine environment of the subantarctic, in January 2011 the New Zealand government created marine protected areas around the Antipodes, Bounty and Campbell Islands, supplementing an existing marine reserve around the Auckland Islands/Motu Maha. A defining feature of the inshore coastline—especially in sheltered locations such as harbours—is thick forests of giant bladder kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera. This seaweed is not only the largest of all algae, with individual plants reaching 50 m in length, but also one of the fastest-growing organisms on Earth, capable of putting on more than half a metre a day. In shallow waters, the upper parts of the plants float on air-filled bladders on the surface, creating a shady canopy under which fish and other creatures find shelter. Macrocystis pyrifera is not restricted to the subantarctic, but thrives wherever the water temperature is less than about 21°C. It can be found in many locations in New Zealand, where it is harvested and sold as kelp flakes and powder. It is also grown as a feed stock for paua and kina aquaculture.
In recognition of the unique marine environment of the subantarctic, in January 2011 the New Zealand government created marine protected areas around the Antipodes, Bounty and Campbell Islands, supplementing an existing marine reserve around the Auckland Islands/Motu Maha. A defining feature of the inshore coastline—especially in sheltered locations such as harbours—is thick forests of giant bladder kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera. This seaweed is not only the largest of all algae, with individual plants reaching 50 m in length, but also one of the fastest-growing organisms on Earth, capable of putting on more than half a metre a day. In shallow waters, the upper parts of the plants float on air-filled bladders on the surface, creating a shady canopy under which fish and other creatures find shelter. Macrocystis pyrifera is not restricted to the subantarctic, but thrives wherever the water temperature is less than about 21°C. It can be found in many locations in New Zealand, where it is harvested and sold as kelp flakes and powder. It is also grown as a feed stock for paua and kina aquaculture.
Several of the subantarctic islands have a particular tree species as their botanical signature. At the Snares, it is the tree daisy; at Campbell Island, dracophyllum; in the Auckland Islands, it is the southern rata, whose twisting limbs, gnarled grey bark and scarlet flowers are a powerful feature of the landscape. Southern rata occurs throughout New Zealand, but the forests on the Auckland Islands are its southern-most stands.
Several of the subantarctic islands have a particular tree species as their botanical signature. At the Snares, it is the tree daisy; at Campbell Island, dracophyllum; in the Auckland Islands, it is the southern rata, whose twisting limbs, gnarled grey bark and scarlet flowers are a powerful feature of the landscape. Southern rata occurs throughout New Zealand, but the forests on the Auckland Islands are its southern-most stands.
Ramparts of columnar basalt fringed with bull kelp and topped with tussock loom through the fog on a rare still day at Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku. Such austere and weathered places—more often wave- and wind-lashed than calm—are the favoured rookeries of the Campbell albatross, a medium-sized albatross or mollymawk readily distinguished by the yellow iris of its eye. Three other albatross species breed on Campbell Island, including the giant-sized southern royal and Antipodean albatross, with their awe-inspiring three-metre wingspans. During the 1970s, large numbers of Campbell albatrosses were drowned through interacting with the tuna longline fishery, but as that fish stock has declined, and fishing effort has slackened, albatross numbers have increased. Even so, the species is still considered vulnerable as it breeds only on Campbell Island and is therefore susceptible to environmental change or damage.
Ramparts of columnar basalt fringed with bull kelp and topped with tussock loom through the fog on a rare still day at Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku. Such austere and weathered places—more often wave- and wind-lashed than calm—are the favoured rookeries of the Campbell albatross, a medium-sized albatross or mollymawk readily distinguished by the yellow iris of its eye. Three other albatross species breed on Campbell Island, including the giant-sized southern royal and Antipodean albatross, with their awe-inspiring three-metre wingspans. During the 1970s, large numbers of Campbell albatrosses were drowned through interacting with the tuna longline fishery, but as that fish stock has declined, and fishing effort has slackened, albatross numbers have increased. Even so, the species is still considered vulnerable as it breeds only on Campbell Island and is therefore susceptible to environmental change or damage.
Female New Zealand sea lions (foreground) are record-holding divers, believed to dive deeper and longer and cover more distance under water than any other fur seal or sea lion species. They travel up to 175 km offshore to feed, regularly diving to 250 m and sometimes to 600 m to forage for squid, fish, octopus and other marine creatures. The svelte, pale-coloured females weigh around 160 kg, while beachmaster bulls, often sporting massive manes, weigh as much as half a tonne. In recent years, New Zealand sea lions have been at the centre of political arguments over the number of deaths that should be permitted as by-catch in squid trawl-fishing operations. Conservation groups consider that this critically threatened species, whose numbers are declining, should be protected by a zero-mortality policy.
Female New Zealand sea lions (foreground) are record-holding divers, believed to dive deeper and longer and cover more distance under water than any other fur seal or sea lion species. They travel up to 175 km offshore to feed, regularly diving to 250 m and sometimes to 600 m to forage for squid, fish, octopus and other marine creatures. The svelte, pale-coloured females weigh around 160 kg, while beachmaster bulls, often sporting massive manes, weigh as much as half a tonne. In recent years, New Zealand sea lions have been at the centre of political arguments over the number of deaths that should be permitted as by-catch in squid trawl-fishing operations. Conservation groups consider that this critically threatened species, whose numbers are declining, should be protected by a zero-mortality policy.
Why anyone would want to farm such inhospitable places as the islands of the subantarctic may seem unfathomable today, but in the 1800s and early 1900s, pastoral leases were eagerly taken up on both the Auckland and Campbell Islands. Port Ross, in the Auckland group, has the distinction of being the shortest-lived attempt to form a British colony. Two hundred colonists responded to a glowing advertising campaign to farm and settle the islands, but within three years they abandoned the project. Their unfortunate legacy was introduced grasses and weeds, loss of native vegetation to grazing, fire-damaged forests (below) and compaction of soils, to say nothing of the ecological destruction wrought by introduced predators. Today, Campbell Island and several of the Auckland Islands are free of all introduced mammals, while the main (much larger) Auckland Island still has a resident population of pigs and cats. Remarkably, rats have never established on any of the Auckland Islands.
Why anyone would want to farm such inhospitable places as the islands of the subantarctic may seem unfathomable today, but in the 1800s and early 1900s, pastoral leases were eagerly taken up on both the Auckland and Campbell Islands. Port Ross, in the Auckland group, has the distinction of being the shortest-lived attempt to form a British colony. Two hundred colonists responded to a glowing advertising campaign to farm and settle the islands, but within three years they abandoned the project. Their unfortunate legacy was introduced grasses and weeds, loss of native vegetation to grazing, fire-damaged forests (below) and compaction of soils, to say nothing of the ecological destruction wrought by introduced predators. Today, Campbell Island and several of the Auckland Islands are free of all introduced mammals, while the main (much larger) Auckland Island still has a resident population of pigs and cats. Remarkably, rats have never established on any of the Auckland Islands.

On November 4, 1810, Captain Frederick Hasselburgh, Australian sealer and discoverer of Campbell Island, drowned while rowing to his ship in Perseverance Harbour. Two hundred years later, al­most to the day, I stand at the rail of The Spirit of Enderby as she strains at her anchor perhaps only metres from where Hasselburgh’s ship lay. White williwaws of spray race down the harbour, a natural wind tunnel which almost bisects this southernmost of New Zealand’s subant­arctic islands. It is not hard to imagine the tragic scene: the sudden squall, the overturned boat, the captain in his heavy coat and sea boots being dragged under.

Hasselburgh was after seals. Seals, sea lions, elephant seals—any of them would do, and the subantarctic was the place to find them. Four months earlier he had discovered Macquarie Island as well, and was giddy at the thought of the fortune in blubber oil that was his for the taking. But fate intervened, and the spoils would go to other men.

Two centuries on, we come for different spoils. These islands—and others of their latitude around the globe, 11 outposts in all—have become renowned as showcases of nature, a place to visit penguin rookeries where hundreds of thousands of birds engage in a non-stop symphony of squawk­ing; a place to stand in the presence of royal albatrosses lifting their state­ly heads, clappering their bills and calling to the skies; a place to lie in fields of purple daisies or walk through forests red-carpeted with rata stamens and marvel that such luxuriance co-exists with such climatic severity.

Here on Campbell Island, the sun shines for less than an hour a day for almost two-thirds of the year. Rain falls, on average, 325 days of the year. Winds approach 100 km/h 100 days of the year. The mean annual temperature is six degrees. But from kelp-strewn coast to tor-studded mountaintop, the island astonishes at every footstep we take on its quivering peat soil.

Consider the snipe. No one knew there was a Campbell Island variant of this endearing, long-billed, tortoiseshell-plumed bird until 1997, when a few were discovered on a single wave-pounded offshore islet. Rats on the main island had eradicated snipe and six other species of landbird and waterfowl prior to 1840. In 2001, it was the rats’ turn to be eradicated, and in the largest island predator clearance ever undertaken, Campbell was re­leased from the rodent scourge. Two years later, snipe arrived back on the main island, unassisted, and in 2005 were found to be breeding there. And in 2010, as we pick our way through herbfield and tussock, amid a multi­tude of black-eyed daisies, a snipe flushes, flutters up and flies into hiding in a thicket.

It seems a serendipitous moment: a harbinger of recoveries and discov­eries to come, not just on Campbell but on all of these islands of the Roar­ing Forties and Furious Fifties, treasures of the subantarctic.

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