Pollen Island handed over to DoC

Ports of Auckland yesterday formally handed over Pollen Island to the Department of Conservation to manage as a protected scientific reserve.

Pollen Island, a 29ha wetlands located in the inner Waitemata Harbour, is a feeding ground for many endangered birds, home to a rare moth and a species of beetle.

Ports of Auckland transferred the island as part of an agreement to use land for an extension of Axis Fergusson, the container terminal at the eastern end of the Port. Conservation Minister Chris Carter said: "It's a special place with one of the last bits of largely unmodified habitat left in the Waitemata Harbour and rare birds surviving only metres from a busy motorway in the middle of the most urban marine reserve."

Ports of Auckland chief executive Geoff Vazey said the deal was a win-win one for Auckland.

- NZPA