...the Tutukaka coast area, which has a marine reserve around the Poor Knights Islands, diving attractions like the sunken navel ships Waikato and Tui, and the protected Ngunguru Sandspit, made that area somewhere that should be looked at.

Northland could be the next place in the country to get a massive marine reserve, Whangarei MP Phil Heatley asking that the region be the next to get a Marine Protection Area (MPA).

The ministerial approach has been welcomed by Whangarei District Council member Dive Tutukaka operator and Northland Tourism Development Group chairman Jeroen Jongejans, who has already proposed an 1800sq km reserve off Whangarei's east coast. However, Northland Kayak Fishing Club president and Sportsman's Choice Kayak Zone owner John Waldron said recreational fishers were likely to fight the idea "tooth and nail" and far more thought needed to go into the proposal.

Mr Heatley, Minister of Housing and Energy and Resources, and the previous fisheries minister, wrote to Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson last week formally requesting that Northland be considered as the next region for a MPA.

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