Hector’s and Māui dolphins are dying in nets—but their biggest foe might be a parasite carried by cats. Can transformative tech cut through the tangle and save the creatures at the heart of it? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 183 September / October 2023. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-special-case-of-our-smallest-dolphins/ Photograph Richard Robinson © 2023. Rights managed image. No Reproduction without prior written permission.

Fishing to extinction – On the High Seas It is estimated that an extra 700 male and 1600 female Antipodean albatrosses are killed every year—on top of birds that die of natural causes. On Antipodes Island, there is now a severe population imbalance, with at least twice as many males as females. As that disparity has increased, male Antipodean albatrosses have begun courting and pairing up with each other. Science shows that the Antipodean Albatross is en route to extinction. A few changes to the way we fish could save it. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 182 July /August 2023. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/summer-33/ Photograph Richard Robinson © 2023. Rights managed image. No Reproduction without prior written permission.

THE BIG BLUE BANQUET - At sea, the feasts are grand and impromptu and everyone’s invited. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 178 November/December 2022. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-big-blue-banquet/ Photograph Richard Robinson © 2022. Rights managed images. No Reproduction without prior written permission.

THE KELP - Where do young sea creatures spend their first weeks? What’s at the root of oceanic food chains? Kelp forests are to Aotearoa what coral reefs are to other marine ecosystems. Or they used to be. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 176 July/August 2022. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-kelp/ Photograph Richard Robinson © 2022. Rights managed image. No Reproduction without prior written permission.

CATCHING RAYS - How hard could it be to find a manta ray? They’re six metres wide, after all. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 174 March/April 2022. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/catching-rays/

Billion-Dollar Fish -Tuna are the gold of the ocean—and, because certain species are so sought-after, they’ve become synonymous with overfishing and modern slavery. But in some areas, populations that were teetering on the edge of total wipe-out seem to be making a tentative comeback. Are things finally turning around for these fisheries? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 170 July August 2021. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/billion-dollar-fish/

Our Whales Are Back - Last century, southern right whales were hunted until there were none left—none that we could find. A small group of these whales, also called tohorā, hid from the harpoon. Deep in the subantarctic, the survivors birthed and nursed their young. Now, tohorā are returning to the coasts of New Zealand to shelter over winter. Are we ready for them? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 166 October November 2020. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-whales-are-back/

Birds Eye View- Humans Can See Three Primary Colours. Birds Can See Four. What Does An Ultraviolet World Look Like? And Why Did Birds Develop The Colours They Wear Today? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 171 September October 2021. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/birds-eye-view-2/

The Animals Next Door -What’s a wildlife photographer to do when lockdown puts an end to travel? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 172 November December 2021. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-animals-next-door/ Photograph Richard Robinson © 2021. Rights managed image. No Reproduction without prior written permission.

The rarest bird in New Zealand is the fairy tern, with perhaps 36 adults left in existence. It’s got everything going against it: weather, cats, its own DNA, and the fact that humans love the white-sand beaches where it raises its young. Only a small group of people, many of them volunteers, stand between it and oblivion. What will we lose if it vanishes altogether? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 162 March - April 2020. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/fallen-from-grace/

Hundreds of millions of years ago, mantis shrimps evolved technologies we’re still trying to copy. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 164 July - August 2020. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/aliens-on-earth/

Old bones are a staple of museum collections, but only a handful of people in New Zealand have the skills to prepare them for display. Recovering the skeleton of a large animal—rotting it down, preparing, cleaning and articulating it—is a long and demanding journey that only the most dedicated pursue. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 164 July - August 2020. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-skeleton-crew/

Are there plenty more fish in the sea? Reports of falling hoki stocks off the West Coast and the near-disappearance of crayfish from the Hauraki Gulf suggest that our ‘best in the world’ fisheries management may not be living up to the hype. Three decades ago, the right to catch and sell fish became a property right, one that has now accumulated in the hands of a few. How has that worked out for people—and for fish? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 160 November - December 2019. Read the full story: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-price-of-fish/?

An audience with Donald Trump at his office in Trump Towers, 5th Ave New York shortly after the launch of The Apprentice in 2004. 2004 © New Zealand Herald, a Division of NZME Publishing Limited. No Reproduction without prior written permission.

Why did hundreds of dead kororā—little blue penguins—wash up on beaches around the country two summers ago? Has their fate got anything to do with the weather? Or has it got something to do with us? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 158 July- August 2019. Read the feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-wreck-of-the-penguins/

Spearfishers are taking aim at freshwater pests instead of dwindling marine species at the World Freshwater Spearfishing Championships held in Lake Taupō, New Zealand. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 158 July- August 2019. Read the full story: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/goodwill-hunting/

New Zealand’s forests were cleared at a record pace, and from this destruction, a sport arose: who can fell a tree the fastest? Competitive woodchopping transformed the labour of forestry into a community event. Now, 150 years on, a diminishing number of axemen and axewomen chop for top honours at A&P shows around the country. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 159 September - October 2019. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/block-busters/

Barely seven per cent of New Zealand is land. The rest of it, the wet bit, covers four million square kilometres. In 2016, photographer Richard Robinson won a Canon Personal Project Grant that enabled a dozen expeditions into this vast marine prairie, arguably the country’s last great tract of undisturbed wilderness. Read the New Zealand Geographic feature forged form this project: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/where-the-wild-things-are/ In the Field: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/where-the-buffalo-roam/ Canon Feature: https://www.canon.co.nz/explore/beyond-the-horizon---personal-grant-project

Like New Zealanders, penguins occupy the margin of land and sea, being dependent on both habitats, and vulnerable to changes in either as well. Their fate is wedded to our coasts, and as scientists have begun to understand, they are a perfect indicator of the health of this fragile boundary too. What can penguins tell us about our seas and shores? Read the feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/life-on-the-edge/ Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 143 January-February 2017.

Built for acceleration and power, the Shortfin Mako Isurus oxyrinchus is the fastest shark in the world and an icon of New Zealand seas. Although heavily fished for decades by commercial longliners, mako populations are beginning to recover, and prospects look good for this oceanic speedster. Read the feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/speed-demon/ Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 135 September - October 2015.

The proposed Kermadecs Ocean Sanctuary stretches over 620,000 square kilometres of sea, pocked with small rocky islands and riddled with underwater volcanoes and deep trenches. It supports life not found anywhere else in the world. Yet the sanctuary remains unratified; subject to a fisheries dispute currently before the courts and the rubber stamp of Parliament. What’s at stake? Read the Features: https://www.nzgeo.com/kermadecs/

New Zealand has only one endemic gull, the tarāpuka, and it’s more endangered than the takahē, the hoiho and all five species of kiwi. Its survival depends on the preservation of the South Island’s unique braided-river ecosystems. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic. Issue 155 January - February 2019. Read the feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/tending-the-flock/

The pacific supports the last great stock of highly migratory blue sharks, the endurance athletes of the oceans. But it’s also the location of the world’s largest longline fishery, which lands as many blue sharks as some species of tuna. What will become of the blue shark? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 121 May – June 2013. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/denizens-of-the-deep/

One of the world’s smallest nations is transforming its economy from subsistence to sustainability. Will Niue’s brave new plan work? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic. Issue 154 November - December 2018. Read the feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/from-taro-to-tourism/

Most of the stellar yachting careers of New Zealand’s America’s Cup sailors began in humble seven-foot boats—a class now a century old—designed by a Public Works employee who couldn’t swim, and who was too hard up to build anything larger. Read the feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/p-class/ Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic. Issue 151 May-June 2018.

The migration of Oceania’s humpback whales, and their final destination in Antarctica, has remained shrouded in mystery. In 2015 a team of scientists travelled north to intercept and track the whales travelling south. What they discovered only made the great migration more intriguing. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 140 July - August 2016 Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-humpback-highway/

The Masquerade Tactics of Pseudorca. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 104 July – August 2010. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/familiar-imposter/

They strand on our shores in greater numbers than any other species of whale. Scientists believe they know why, but there is much about these animals that remains an enigma, and the strandings continue to happen. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 142 November – December 2016 Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-puzzle-of-pilot-whales/

New Zealanders are responsible for one of the largest ocean territories in the world. How well are we protecting our seas? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 130 November-December 2014. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/sea-change/

Sea turtles survived a meteor that killed the dinosaurs, millions of years of predator attacks, even the slow warming of the seas, only to be threatened by nylon fishing lines and plastic bags. Those that wash up in New Zealand almost always need the help of humans. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 117 September – October 2012. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/return-of-the-ancients/

New Zealanders love their native galaxiids—sandwiched between two pieces of white bread for the most part. What most people don’t realise is that whitebait are actually the juvenile of a spectacular family of native fish, a group of species as unique as our kiwi, kakapō and kereru, only far less visible. And just as we are getting to know our galaxiids, we are driving them towards extinction. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 136 November-December 2015 Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/medium-rare/

No one knew that Kaikōura was home to the world’s only alpine-dwelling seabird until an amateur ornithologist following a rumour discovered its burrows high in the mountains. As the bizarre attributes and tenuous existence of the Hutton’s shearwater (Puffinus huttoni) slowly came to light, Kaikōura took up the mantle of protecting its local bird—just in time to witness the destruction of its breeding grounds in the November 2016 earthquake. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 144 March-April 2017. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/snow-birds/

The distant and remote Minerva Reefs—the closest coral atolls to New Zealand—have been the subject of political intrigue, a failed libertarian state and a naval showdown. Scientists believe they may also be the origin of some tropical species reaching New Zealand’s northern waters. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 133 May-June 2015 Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/empire-of-the-sea/

The Biblical tale of three magi with gifts has an ecological equivalent at the Three Kings Islands, 53 kilometres north of the New Zealand mainland. There, swept by the cool waters of the Tasman Sea, life springs in profusion. In 2013, five agencies voyaged to the islands to explore this unfathomable biological wealth. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 122 July - August 2013 Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/treasure-islands/

Invasive koi carp now writhe through wetlands from Auckland to Marlborough, displacing native species and destroying freshwater habitats. For 25 years, bowhunters in Waikato have ministered their own brand of pest control, the World Koi Carp Classic, resulting in prizes, and 70 tonnes of puréed fish. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 131 January - February 2015. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-war-on-koi/

A former editor recalls how he was smitten by deceptively simple creatures. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 129 September - October 2014. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/for-the-love-of-sponges/

Swept by the cold seas of the Southern Ocean, New Zealand’s outposts of the Bounty and Antipodes Islands are awash with life. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 127 May- June 2014. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/seas-of-bounty/

Great Mercury was one of the first sites of human habitation in New Zealand. Last year, a radical new public-private partnership sought to rid the island of pests. It was a unique operation, and the results have been astonishing. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 137 January - February 2016. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/treasure-island/

WHAT’S KILLING THE SEA-LIONS? New Zealand sea-lion numbers have plummeted. Is it fishing pressure, climate change, the mysterious disappearance of octopuses, or a deadly new virus? Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue138 March – April 2016. Photograph Richard Robinson © 2016

On September 29 2015, Prime Minister John Key made a surprise announcement at the announcement at the UN General Assembly in New York. The Kermadec Group will be at the centre of a massive marine sanctuary, 620,000 square kilometres in extent—an area twice the size of our landmass, and 50 times the size of our largest national park. The new designation will outlaw both fishing and mining activity. Positioned between the tropics and the temperate zone of the New Zealand mainland, the Kermadecs host a panolpy of endemic marine life unique to the archipelago, as well as being an important staging post for 35 migratory dolphin and whales species, including humpback whales which pause here en route between the tropics where they breed and rich feeding grounds in Antarctica.

In Asia and Europe, shooting snipe is so difficult that the best marksmen are called ‘snipers’. In New Zealand, the birds save their aerial skills for after dark—a secret acrobatic performance that has been heard but never seen. Capturing them alive requires tactics, a team, and a trip to the subantarctic—so last summer, members of an expedition to the Snares were conscripted for the task. These snipers of a different sort stalked their prey across a weather-beaten island, armed only with butterfly nets. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 146 July - August 2017. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-hunting-of-the-snipe/

The world’s smallest, rarest dolphin lives in New Zealand. After the expansion of gill-netting in 1970, the population and range of Hector’s dolphin diminished rapidly. One extremely isolated subspecies, Māui dolphin, now numbers barely 100 individuals. Yet science has revealed that the species may yet recover, even from the brink of oblivion. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 110 July – August 2011. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/mauis-dolphin-deep-trouble/

Cuchulainn, aka Paddy, aka Dago, winner of the 2004 Mercedes Champion Jumper of the Year. Read the Feature: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=3585796. 2004 © New Zealand Herald, a Division of NZME Publishing Limited. No Reproduction without prior written permission.

William Trubridge’s quest to dive a hundred metres on a single breath. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue 108 March – April 2011. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/100m-man-william-trubridge/

Kelly, the last dolphin held in captivity in New Zealand, was the embodiment of our changing attitudes to marine life. Shot on assignment for New Zealand Geographic Issue: 94 November – December 2018. Photograph Richard Robinson © 2008. Read the Feature: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-last-dolphin/