Dive Report Motuhoropapa, The Noises
2 September 2022 (second day of closed scallop season)
Anchored 30m off western side of Motuhoropapa
66 minutes
Max depth 12.8
High tide
Vis 6-8m
Hood, gloves, 3 + 5mm wetsuits, a bit cold on exit
I checked the western shoreline of Motutapu, all of Rakino Island, Motuhoropapa and islets for kekeno from my boat. None seen (dead or alive) but did photograph a skittish reef heron on Motuhoropapa.
Descended 11m to seafloor west of Motuhoropapa, which had a very dense dog cockle bed with an occasional rock outcrop and the odd horse mussel but no live scallops. The rock reef ended just 2m from my anchor. I slowly swam east towards the shore. The reef had a short wall and I explored the top which had a lot of horn shells and small Mediterranean fanworm. There was not much kelp until 8m where the ecklonia was thick and healthy looking. It may not last for long tho as an adjacent gully was packed full of kina. I explored the crevices of the gully and was very pleased to find two packhorse rock lobster moults. The bigger one must have been reasonably fresh as a large glass shrimp was cleaning it. No live animals were found but I was very pleased to see evidence there is still the odd kōura left around the Noises (which I had suspected but not seen).
This area may have been left alone a bit as I also saw eight haliotis iris. I didn't find any live green-lipped mussels. The grey massive sponges / Stelletta conulosa I found were in very poor condition, I expect they were severely impacted by last summers marine heatwave. I saw more of the big grey cup sponges / Geodia regina (than grey massive sponges) which looked fine.
Spotty and juvenile sweep were the main fish other than triplefins which were quite diverse. I think I saw a young Sandager's wrasse, one red moki, one crested blenny and a few hiwihiwi.
I turned at 3m and headed west back past my anchor to explore the deeper area a bit before I ascended the anchor line. When I got out there were two boats, one jet ski and a charter fisher nearby. One of the boats turned out to be Fisheries NZ officers who were waiting for me to come up came to check I wasn't taking scallops as the wider fishery has collapsed. I thanked them for their efforts.
The current was weird because my boat stayed pointing towards the island even tho the tide should have changed while I was there.
