Mokohinau Islands on Hawere

Today we headed to the Mokohinau Islands, to the north-east of Auckland. They are reasonably remote, and outside of holidays, you see few boats here. I joined Kendall Clements, an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, on the Hawere, the research vessel operated by the University of Auckland.

Our mission was to sample a number of herbivorous (plant eating) fish, and in particular look at the way the digest and use their food. The fish have to processed within minutes of capture, and the only way to do this (as they don't take a baited hook), was by spearfishing - which is where I came in! There were 4 species we were sampling - silver drummer, two species of marblefish, and butterfish. My job was to find them and spear them without damaging their guts or their head. The fish were measured, weighed, had blood, liver and tissue samples taken, and had their otoliths removed. The otoliths are tiny ear bones in their skulls (yes, fish do have ears of a sort!), and are used to determine the age of the fish, with growth rings similar to trees. The last part was to carefully take out the stomach and intestines, and take samples from various parts of the digestive system.

We had a great day, although the fish didn't always cooperate! After processing the six fish we got, we headed in to a sheltered anchorage at Port Fitzroy, at Great Barrier Island. Kahawai sashimi and baked snapper for dinner!