Chatham Islands

Credit: Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Monday, 26 April 2004, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

New Zealand's Chatham Islands lie three hundred miles east of Christchurch, South Island, in the Pacific Ocean. The larger Chatham Island, image center, has a central lagoon between Petre Bay to the west and Hanson Bay to the east. Across the Pitt Strait, Pitt island peeks through the low spotty clouds. Sheepraising and fishing are the primary occupations on the islands, which were first explored by Europeans in the late 1700s. The islands are ecologically very rich; they're home to the Taiko, the world's most endangered seabird, and a number of other endangered bird species. The islands are also the first inhabited place in the world to see the sunrise each day.

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