Deep New Zealand: Blue Water, Black Abyss
by Peter Batson

Reviewed by Dorothy - 17/12/04

Peter Batson writing as a scientist is constantly aware of his readers, and uses images familiar to them to make new concepts comprehensible. The written text is highlighted by the remarkable photographs and diagrams. My interest in Deep New Zealand: Blue Water, Black Abyss was captured from the moment I began reading and I found that my fears that I would be unable to cope with a book about marine biology - a science of which I had no knowledge - were groundless. The photographs, mainly taken by Kim Westerskov, and the diagrams with their clear explanatory notes clarify the factual material in the text and encourage even the novice in marine biology to keep reading.

The introduction to the book demonstrates Peter's skill in drawing readers into enjoyment of his subject. He highlights the attraction that the deep sea holds for those looking for a true wilderness with the hallmarks of inaccessibility and vastness, pointing out that most areas formerly regarded as wilderness, like the Amazon, the Sahara desert, Mt Everest and the South Pole have been penetrated and populated.

He stresses the size of the deep sea covering two thirds of the world's surface, and compares our present knowledge of land diversity with what we know of ocean diversity. He likens our progress in exploring the deep sea with the first European explorers coming back from Africa with tales of strange and seemingly incredible animals. Reading the book confirmed the appropriateness of this analogy as it is full of photographs of strange new creatures.

An impressive diagram shows the size of New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). In 1965 it was extended from three miles from the coast to twelve miles, and in 1978 it was further extended to a limit of 200 nautical miles - 370 kilometres. These limits extend not just from the coasts of New Zealand's three main islands, but from outlying islands - the Kermadecs in the north, the Chathams in the east, and subantarctic islands to the south. This means that New Zealand has the fourth largest EEZ in the world.

This interesting introduction prepares the reader for some 200 pages creating a vivid verbal and visual picture of the deep sea and its inhabitants. The book concentrates on areas within New Zealand's EEZ, but beyond the continental shelf to where the water depth may be up to four kilometres, or in ocean trenches six to ten kilometres.

Peter emphasises that research into New Zealand's EEZ has covered only a minuscule part of this huge area, but that research has discovered various kinds of creatures which are described in this book.

Discussion of the environment includes a section on plate tectonics with clear explanatory diagrams, ocean trenches, ridges, basins, rises, plateaux and the mountains of the deep. In the second chapter, The Third Dimension, he writes of the water column environment, variations in space and time, and the impact of these changes on the inhabitants of the area. He describes with particular vividness what you would experience during a dive into the deep ocean in a submersible. The third chapter under Environment deals with the ecology of the deep ocean.

Having set the scene for depicting the creatures of the deep, in Biodiversity he discusses life in the deep water under sixteen categories with a wealth of coloured photos in each section.

He concludes with a chapter on Fishing and the Future, discussing the impact of deep sea fishing, the dangers of over-fishing, the damage to the ecology of the deep sea and to the seabed itself, and measures to control the areas where fishing is permitted and the size of the catches.

This book will certainly appeal to those who already have some knowledge of the deep sea and its inhabitants, but with its easily read text, its remarkably clear diagrams and its brilliant photographs it will introduce many readers to a new fascination with life in the deep waters of New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone.