The National Aquarium of New Zealand is involved in many conservation programmes, both national and international in scale. Some of these are historic in nature while others have only come online since the Aquarium was opened early in 2002.

At the National Aquarium you can view many rare species:

Pacu, a South American Amazon fish is related to the fierce Piranha. It eats fruit, nuts and vegetables, with a preference for blanched peanuts and broccoli. The Pacu is now an endangered specimen. In the wild, it depends on food to fall from trees into the rivers but this food source is diminishing as the forests are being cut. The National Aquarium has six rare specimens, and old Pacu.

The National Aquarium has achieved a reputation for its ability to keep stocks. Good collecting techniques, handling and initial treatment in the Aquarium, along with superb water quality and filtration are the key. The National Aquarium is sited right on beach front and able to take water directly from the sea.

The National Aquarium is popular with local fishermen. They can visit to identify their latest catch or see what other fish may be waiting for them in the deep, wondrous ocean.

Scientists from universities and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research use the National Aquarium as a study environment for monitoring purposes and for research.

Aquarium Research and Achievements:

First aquarium to hatch a turtle egg (1975).
Researched Orange Roughy fishery to determine sustainability of fishery and successfully brought a fish to the surface, alive, from a depth of 3000ft.
In association with Department of Conservation, Victoria and Otago Universities is involved with Tuatara recovery programmes. Napier has the world’s oldest living tuatara hatched in captivity (hatched 1980). The animals in Napier are part of a data base for genetic diversity.
Tuatara research to measure stress levels – Dr Alison Cree.
Kahawai studies to discover effect of ageing on fish – Dr Bob Gauldie.
Research on the effects of tagging fish to determine guidelines for other species – Glenn Davidson.
Coronary work on kingfish, comparing with trout, tuna, kahawai, marlin, etc – Dr Peter Davies.
Worldwide reputation for ability to keep animals in captivity, with species living way beyond normal life span.
In conjunction with NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) carried out snapper breeding in captivity which resulted in a private industry programme of breeding snapper for release back into the ocean to restock fishery.

The National Aquarium is a member of the Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria (ARAZPA).