24-519: The Marlborough Sounds ( te reo Māori : Te Tauihu-o-te-Waka ) are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels . According to Māori mythology , the sounds are the prows of the many sunken waka of Aoraki . Covering some 4,000 km (1,500 sq mi) of sounds, islands, and peninsulas,
48-697: A dispute heard in the New Zealand Environment Court in the early 1990s, brought forward by the 'Guardians of the Sounds' group. The court, however, not only refused to restrict the fast ferries but also awarded NZ$ 300,000 in court costs against the citizen group which had brought the case. This was seen as a strong blow against civic action, and a curtailing of the powers of the Resource Management Act . However, as damage increasingly became visible, and protests continued,
72-525: A significant whaling history, and much of the sounds was (thinly) settled by European farmers in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Marlborough Sounds are connected to Cook Strait at the north-east extreme. At this point, the North Island is at its closest to the South Island, and the inter-island road, rail, and passenger ferry service between Picton and Wellington travels through
96-407: Is Picton on the mainland, at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound . It is at the northern terminus of the South Island's main railway and state highway networks. The main small-boat port, Waikawa , is one of New Zealand's largest and provides a base for leisure sailors and vacationers. The main sounds, other than Queen Charlotte Sound, are Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere and Kenepuru Sound . Havelock
120-510: Is a small port town at the head of Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere . Tory Channel is a major arm of Queen Charlotte Sound, and between them, the Channel and the Sound isolate the hills of Arapaoa Island from the mainland. Other major islands in the sounds include D'Urville Island . The Sounds are home to the entire breeding population of the rare and vulnerable rough-faced shag (also known as
144-428: Is a specialist court for plans, resource consents and environmental issues. It mainly deals with issues arising under the Resource Management Act , meaning that it covers a wide range of potential future effects of planning applications, which can include such areas as traffic congestion, noise/pollution emissions and social and commercial consequences, rather than just the 'ecological' aspects that could be implied by
168-540: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel .) A ria coast is a coastline having several parallel rias separated by prominent ridges, extending a distance inland. The sea level change that caused the submergence of a river valley may be either eustatic (where global sea levels rise), or isostatic (where the local land sinks). The result is often a very large estuary at the mouth of a relatively insignificant river (or else sediments would quickly fill
192-705: The Planning Tribunal as a result of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1996. The Environment Court has a substantially larger role than the Planning Tribunal, with expanded functions and powers over planning, resource consents and enforcement. Virtually all important processes and decisions under the Resource Management Act 1991 , such as regional policy statements, regional and district plans, resource consents and Water Conservation Orders , may be appealed to
216-566: The 'environmental' term. The history of independent appeal courts addressing environmental matters began with the establishment of Appeal Boards under the Town and Country Planning Act 1953. The first planning appeals were heard in February 1955. The Appeal Boards were replaced by the Planning Tribunal following the passing of the Town and Country Planning Act 1977 . The Environment Court replaced
240-586: The 21st century, however, the preferred usage of ria by geologists and geomorphologists is to refer solely to drowned unglaciated river valleys. It therefore excludes fjords by definition, since fjords are products of glaciation. The funnel-like shape of rias can amplify the effects of tsunamis , as demonstrated in the seismicity of the Sanriku coast , most recently in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami . Environment Court The Environment Court of New Zealand ( Māori : Te Kōti Taiao o Aotearoa )
264-485: The Environment Court. In particular, the Environment Court hears appeals on decisions on applications for resource consent on a 'de novo' basis. The Environment Court does not review the decision: it hears any evidence it requires and makes its own decision, which replaces that of the local authority. It focuses on "the merits and substance of the particular decision at issue, not the deliberative process of
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#1732766122038288-498: The Marlborough Sounds lie at the South Island's north-easternmost point, between Tasman Bay in the west and Cloudy Bay in the south-east. The almost fractal coastline has 1/10 of the length of New Zealand's coasts. The steep, wooded hills and small quiet bays of the sounds are sparsely populated, as access is difficult. Many of the small settlements and isolated houses are only accessible by boat. The main large port
312-458: The Ministry of Fisheries has also noted that only 6% of the sounds are set aside for the dredging, though this had been much more extensive in the past. The main channels of the Marlborough Sounds have calm water and are popular for sailing . Cook Strait , however, is infamous for its strong currents and rough waters, especially when the wind is from the south or north. Because of this, some of
336-607: The New Zealand king cormorant) which nests on a small number of rocky islets there. The Department of Conservation manages a total of over 50 reserves in the area. The sounds were extensively travelled and partly inhabited by Māori groups before the coming of the Europeans, using the sounds as shelter from bad weather and partaking of the rich food sources. Māori were also known to carry their canoes over some stretches of land on portage paths. However, as in most areas of
360-533: The South Island, populations were smaller than in the North Island. European history of the area is considered to start with Captain Cook 's visit to the sounds in the 1770s, discovering a plant ( Cook's scurvy grass ) high in vitamin C which helped to cure scurvy amongst his crew. On Motuara Island , Cook also proclaimed British sovereignty over the South Island. Some parts of the sounds also later developed
384-528: The executive authority that made the initial decision." The Environment Court also has the power to make declarations that interpret the law under the Resource Management Act. The Environment Court has the status and powers of a District Court , so it can conduct prosecutions and enforcement of the Resource Management Act through civil or criminal proceedings. The Environment Court also has functions under other statutes: Decisions of
408-401: The fast ferries (which only operated for the summer season) were eventually restricted to a lower speed of 18 knots in the sounds (officially for safety reasons), reducing their time advantage over the conventional ferries. They have since been discontinued. In July/August 2007, the 'Guardians of the Sounds' environmentalist group planned a 100-ship flotilla protest against scallop dredging in
432-570: The narrow channels closer to the Strait are dangerous to navigate. Notable amongst these is French Pass at the southern end of D'Urville Island, which has several vortices . The most notable shipwreck in the sounds is that of the Russian cruise liner MS Mikhail Lermontov , which sank in 1986 in Port Gore , close to the mouth of Queen Charlotte Sound, after colliding with rocks. One crew member
456-609: The ria). The Kingsbridge Estuary in Devon , England, is an extreme example of a ria forming an estuary disproportionate to the size of its river; no significant river flows into it at all, only a number of small streams. The word ria comes from Galician ría which comes from río (river). Rias are present all along the Galician coast in Spain . As originally defined, the term was restricted to drowned river valleys cut parallel to
480-526: The sea. Typically rias have a dendritic , treelike outline although they can be straight and without significant branches. This pattern is inherited from the dendritic drainage pattern of the flooded river valley. The drowning of river valleys along a stretch of coast and formation of rias results in an extremely irregular and indented coastline. Often, there are naturally occurring islands, which are summits of partly submerged, pre-existing hill peaks. (Islands may also be artificial, such as those constructed for
504-399: The sounds, which they consider damages the ecosystem of the sounds similar to bottom trawling in the open sea. The protest was intended to call attention to what they allege is the Ministry of Fisheries ignoring the detrimental effect of the practice. Commercial scallops harvesting companies have warned that protests could endanger lives if the protesters engaged in dangerous manoeuvres, while
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#1732766122038528-433: The sounds. Marine farming, especially of salmon and mussels , is increasingly common, having started in the 1960s. However, the wakes caused by fast catamaran vehicular ferry services to the North Island have allegedly damaged farms and destroyed crab grounds. They were also blamed for stripping the local beaches bare of sand, and damaging landings and other facilities built close to the water's edge. This resulted in
552-440: The structure of the country rock that was at right angles to the coastline. However the definition of ria was later expanded to other flooded river valleys regardless of the structure of the country rock. For a time European geomorphologists considered rias to include any broad estuarine river mouth, including fjords . These are long narrow inlets with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity . In
576-442: Was killed in the disaster. The ship herself is now a popular dive wreck . 41°08′30″S 174°05′22″E / 41.14167°S 174.08944°E / -41.14167; 174.08944 Ria A ria ( / ˈ r iː ə / ; Galician : ría , feminine noun derived from río , river) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley . It is a drowned river valley that remains open to
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