West Coast Marine and Coastal Localities:
a Detailed Description of 14 Segments
5.14 Cascade
(Jackson Head – Cascade Point, 22 km)
5.13.1 Summary
The Cascade segment comprises a mostly steep and forested coastline, backed
by hilly catchments in the north and the Cascade Plateau in the south, with
several small streams flowing out to sea and no coastal wetlands present.
The shoreline is dominated by rocky reefs that also extend offshore and
the few beaches are mostly of coarse sand and fine gravel. The continental
shelf lies wholly within the territorial limits, with the steeper continental
slope and several canyons dropping off from depths of about 200 metres.
The area supports marine life that is important to the southern West Coast,
representing a transition between the northern parts of the West Coast and
the outer Fiordland coast. Coastal access to this area is for fishing and
recreational activities, mostly by boat from Jackson Bay or by several walking
routes to the coast. The landscape and habitats in this segment are unmodified.
Notable features of this segment include accessibility by boat from Jackson
Bay in the north, limited access by land, unmodified catchments and coastline,
the visually-impressive coastal landscape of the Cascade Bluffs, rocky reefs,
canyons and other seabed formations, and recreational uses. Fishing is the
main commercial use of the coastal marine area.
Existing protection includes conservation lands that cover almost all of
the land in this segment and several specified areas under the Regional
Coastal Plan.
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Cascade Bluffs waterfall Photo: N. Shears, Auckland University |
5.13.2 Natural Features
Coastal Land and Islands
The coast from Jackson Head to near Teer Creek comprises a series of rocky
headlands and small embayments, backed by generally steep hillslopes and
catchments covered in indigenous forest.
The Cascade Bluffs are an imposing landscape feature, extending from about
Teer Creek to Cascade Point. The bluffs are the eroded end of a large lateral
moraine from glaciers that once flowed down from the Olivine Range and the
Red Hills, and are composed mostly of compacted ultramafic boulder deposits.
A ramp of large boulders forms the shoreline at the base of the bluffs in
most parts, but in places (especially in the vicinity of Cascade Point)
the bluffs drop vertically down to well below sea level. Cascade Point is
a fossil site of geological interest309.
About ten vegetated rock stacks of less than 0.1ha each are scattered throughout
this segment, including ‘Cascade Island’, which has a dominant
cover of the threatened seal cress310.
Coastal Wetlands and Waterways
Several small rivers and streams enter the coast in this segment, including
the Smoothwater and Stafford Rivers and Teer Creek. The Duncan, Donald and
Dougal Creeks terminate in waterfalls over the edge of the bluffs, inspiring
the name ‘Cascade’ for several features in this area. There
are no coastal wetlands of note in this segment due to the general absence
of lowland flats.
Seashore and Marine Areas
Coastal rocky reefs occur along the whole segment, and these support a diversity
of habitats that are generally typical of such habitats in the southern
West Coast, representing a transition between the northern parts of the
West Coast and the outer Fiordland coast.
Small beaches occur only at Ocean Beach, Smoothwater Bay, Homminy Cove and
Stafford Bay. Nephrite and semi-nephrite cobbles can be recovered from some
of the beaches in this segment311.
A complex formation of submarine canyons extends to within about two kilometres
of the coastline in this Cascade segment. The accurate detail of these formations
is uncertain, as charts portray different topographies312.
NZ Oceanographic charts label three main canyons in this area (the Arawhata,
the Jackson and part of the Cascade), and show small extensions of continental
shelf extending out no more than about 10 kilometres in the vicinity of
Smoothwater Bay and Cascade Point. The seafloor reaches depths of about
2000 metres within the territorial limits, while locally rising to about
1000 metres in some outer parts of the territorial waters. The continental
slope and canyons are very steep-sided formations with slopes of up to about
30 degrees in some places.
Important anchorages for commercial fishing vessels are located inside Cascade
Island, around a headland just north of there and in Smoothwater Bay.
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| Cascade Point reefs Photo: N. Shears, Auckland University |
Jackson Head boulder shore Photo: D Neale, DOC. |
Coastal and Marine Wildlife
The Jackson Head – Cascade Point coast has been rated as a habitat
of outstanding wildlife value313.
About 300 tawaki (Fiordland crested penguin) nests are dispersed from Stafford
Bay to Cascade Point, while others occur at the large Jackson Head colony
(see Segment 12).314
When surveyed in 1990, the rocky coast north from Cascade Point had one
of the largest New Zealand fur seal breeding colonies on the West Coast,
with an estimated 3000 seals (including at least 500 pups)315.
Petrels and possibly prions were reported in 1980 to be breeding at Jackson
Head316 but there are no more recent published reports.
Marine Fish and Other Species
This coastal region, like the whole west coast of the South Island, supports
a rich diversity of fish and invertebrate species that are fished both commercially
and recreationally by a number of fishing methods including trawl, longlining,
trolling, potting and set netting.
Inshore trawl fisheries are multi-species and are primarily based on flatfish
(several species), red gurnard, red cod, giant stargazer, tarakihi and blue
warehou. Other species taken as bycatch include arrow squid, dark ghost
shark, ling, barracouta, jack mackerel, spiny dogfish, rig, school shark,
sea perch, rough skate and smooth skate317.
Commercial fishing using other methods such as longline, potting, set net,
and trolling for a number of species such as bluenose, ling, stargazer,
warehou, lemon sole, hapuka, school shark, tuna and crayfish (to mention
a few) is extensive.
Surveys in this area of shallow reef communities318
and coastal reef fish319 indicate that the reefs
in this segment are generally typical of the South Westland coast, representing
a transition between the northern parts of the West Coast and the outer
Fiordland coast. A high diversity of 60 coastal reef fish species have been
recorded in this segment. Paua in this area have been found to be relatively
scarce and small320.
There is little published information on the fish communities of the continental
shelf and canyons in this area, in part because the NIWA West Coast trawl
surveys do not extend this far south.
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| Jackson Head bedrock shore Photo: D Neale, DOC. |
Ocean Beach, Jackson Head Photo: D Neale, DOC. |
5.13.3 Historical and Archaeological Heritage
The Cascade coastal segment was an important nephrite collecting and working
area. Post European sites are generally associated with shipwrecks321,
including the Pacific in 1857322. Cascade Point
was named by Captain Cook in 1776, after the several waterfalls on the nearby
bluffs.
5.13.4 Recreation and Tourism
Walking tracks lead through coastal forest from Jackson Bay to Ocean Beach
(the Wharekai Te Kou track), and to Smoothwater and Stafford Bays, providing
access to natural coastal landscapes and rocky coasts that are used for
exploring, fishing and other activities.
Recreational boats access this area from nearby Jackson Bay for such purposes
as fishing and sightseeing, and these activities appear to have increased
significantly here in recent years323. Rod fishing
is the main type of fishing, but scuba diving, snorkelling and recreational
set netting appear to be popular in this region as well.
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Bluffs of Cascade Point, looking south to mouth of
Cascade River and Barn Bay Photo: D.L. Homer, GNS |
5.13.5 Commercial Use
The Cascade area, as for most of the inshore West Coast, is fished by commercial
fishers using a variety of methods including bottom trawl, trolling, potting,
set netting and longlining. Vessels in this area mostly operate out of Jackson
Bay and Greymouth, but also Milford, Westport and Nelson. Reefs in this
area are also fished for rock lobster using craypots by vessels out of Jackson
Bay and Milford.
Abundance surveys have indicated that there are poor prospects for a paua
fishery in this area324 but there is still potential
for development of a fishery.
5.13.6 Other Public Uses and Facilities
Access to the area is mainly by boat from Jackson Bay, and also from the
airstrip at the mouth of the Cascade River, or the track down the Cascade
River from the roadend at Martyr Homestead. Walking routes exist on the
Wharekai Te Kou, Smoothwater Bay and Stafford Bay tracks. There is a Department
of Conservation hut at Stafford Bay.
There is one Resource Management Act coastal permit issued in this segment325,
for stone extraction in Homminy Cove.
5.13.7 Existing Protection and Management Areas
Most of the coastal land and catchments in this segment are within conservation
lands, except for small areas of legal road along the Smoothwater River.
Whitebaiting is not permitted in non-tidal areas, nor upstream of ‘back
pegs’ on the Smoothwater River326.
The area lies within Fisheries Statistical Area FSA 33, which is part of
the Challenger Fishery Management Area (FMA 7). The adjoining land area
is within the Westland District.
The operative West Coast Regional Coastal Plan recognises:
- Culturally Significant Areas; CSA22 Smoothwater Bay, CSA23 Homminy Cove, CSA24 Teer Creek
- Coastal Recreation Area; CRA18 Jackson Bay/Okahu
- Outstanding Natural Features and Landscapes; ONFL9 west Jackson Bay/Okahu to Awarua Point
- Marine Mammal and Bird Sites; MMB27 Jackson Head, MMB28 Stafford Bay to Cascade Point.
310 Neale 2006e
311 Hooker 1986
312 Carter 1981, RNZN 1985
313 Coker & Imboden 1980
314 McLean et al 1997
315 Anderson 1990
316 Coker & Imboden 1980
317 Stevenson and Hanchet 2000
318 Shears in prep
319 Roberts et al 2005
320 McShane et al 1993
321 Hooker 1990
322 Ingram 1990
323 G. Newton pers comm 2005
324 McShane et al 1993
325 West Coast Regional Council, www.wcrc.govt.nz “Maps on the Web”, June 2006
326 Whitebait Fishing (West Coast) Regulations 1994