Auckland's Waiheke Island seeks Dark Sky sanctuary status

Monday, 1 February 2021

They can't see stars at home so they’re flocking to see them here. Astro-tourism is putting the twinkle into Tekapo.

Waiheke Island groups are wishing on a star to keep the Milky Way clearly in their sight.

The Waiheke Local Board is finalising an application for International Dark-Sky Association accreditation to protect the island’s nightscape, which is heaven for stargazers.

The request, expected to be submitted by May, is backed by Dark-sky New Zealand, Piritahi Marae, Ngati Paoa Iwi Trust, the Department of Conservation and several community groups on the island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf.

Accreditation would highlight the island’s lack of light pollution and help protect dark night skies for future generations, Waiheke resident Nalayini Davies, from Dark-sky New Zealand, told the board.

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Waiheke Island’s local groups are keen to protect views like this one by attaining international dark sky status. (file photo)

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She said visitors flocked to Waiheke to see the beaches and vineyards but the accreditation could spark a gradual shift towards eco-tourism and sustainability.

“If people come to look at the starry skies, it’s a different kind of people than the 20-somethings that have come here for a hen party.”

Nalayini Davies is working to establish a Dark Skies Park, limiting light pollution, on part of the island.

Research shows bright lighting at night is harmful to human health and impacts on wildlife, Davies said.

“Turtles come to the shore to lay their eggs and the baby turtles, when they hatch, use moonlight to navigate their way back to the ocean,” she said.

“If there are artificial lights on the shore, they get disoriented, don’t go to the ocean, and they get caught by predators.”

The beauty of the conservation initiative is that light pollution is the easiest type to control, she said.

“If we collectively switch our lights off there’s no light pollution.”

The board is working with the Waiheke Dark Skies Group on the application to establish a Dark Skies Park for eastern Waiheke and, if successful, might develop the concept across the island.

Davies said Auckland Transport had done its bit for conservation by replacing all the street lights in eastern Waiheke to 3000K LEDs at their own cost and had “made sure they were at zero tilt”.

This reduces sky glow and the effect on human melatonin production.

“They [Auckland Transport] are working their way slowly through west Waiheke as step two,” she said.

If successful, Waiheke will follow Great Barrier Island as the next bright star of New Zealand’s dark skies.

In 2017, Aotea/Great Barrier Island was named the world’s third Dark Sky Sanctuary, and the first island sanctuary, an honour it now shares with Rakiura/Stewart Island.

The other certified place in New Zealand is Aoraki Mackenzie, an IDA International Dark Sky Reserve.

Tekapo’s lighting ordinances protect viewing at the nearby University of Canterbury Mt John Observatory.

Aotea/Great Barrier Local Board chairwoman Izzy Fordham said while conservation had been the goal, the island’s new status had opened up a tourism opportunities, with new stargazing businesses such as Good Heavens set up.

In the winter – the best time for celestial viewing – the company provides blankets and hot chocolate and sweeps the heavens with their telescope, Fordham said.

“ … They talk you through a bit about early navigation with mariners using stars and also about various constellations you can see on that particular evening,” she said.

“We also have a couple of astrophotographers that come here periodically to capture those dark sky moments.”

When the island first gleaned accreditation there was a “flurry of people and a lot of interest from overseas”, she said.

“But of course if you’re coming all the way down to New Zealand, then coming here, you can’t always guarantee that you’re going to get a clear night, and if the skies aren’t performing, it's a bit of an anticlimax.”

“I wouldn’t say we’ve been inundated with visitors specifically to look at the heavens but those that are here are definitely more aware when they come.”

Fordham said soon after getting accreditation, the board did a lot of work with the community and schools to teach people about constellations and planets.

“One of the first things I noticed with the community was that extra sense of pride in the accreditation,” she said.