Taiari / Chalky Inlet

Taiari / Chalky Inlet
Taiari (Māori)
Taiari / Chalky Inlet as seen from Te Kākahu-o-Tamatea / Chalky Island
Taiari / Chalky Inlet Location of Taiari / Chalky Inlet Show map of Fiordland Taiari / Chalky Inlet Taiari / Chalky Inlet (New Zealand) Show map of New Zealand
Location	Tasman Sea
Coordinates	45°58′S 166°37′E / 45.97°S 166.62°E / -45.97; 166.62
River sources	Lumaluma Creek, Carrick River, Kohe Creek, Shallow Creek
Catchment area	515 km2 (199 sq mi)[1]
Basin countries	New Zealand
Max. length	27.7 km (17.2 mi)[1]
Max. width	2.3 km (1.4 mi)[1]
Surface area	110 km2 (42 sq mi)[1]
Max. depth	374 m (1,227 ft)[1]
Islands	Chalky Island, Great Island, Little Island, Motutawaki, Small Craft Harbour Islands, Garden Islands
Sections/sub-basins	Moana-whenua-pōuri / Edwardson Sound, Te Korowhakaunu / Kanáris Sound, Eastern Passage, Western Passage, Return Channel

Taiari / Chalky Inlet is one of the southernmost fiords in Fiordland, in the southwestern corner of New Zealand's South Island and part of Fiordland National Park. As with the neighbouring fiords of Tamatea / Dusky Sound to the north and Rakituma / Preservation Inlet to the south, Taiari / Chalky Inlet is a complex fiord with many channels and islands along its roughly 28 km (17 mi) length. Most notably, this includes the sections Moana-whenua-pōuri / Edwardson Sound and Te Korowhakaunu / Kanáris Sound, which split at Divide Head in the middle of Taiari and each extend for roughly 10 km (6.2 mi) inland in a V-shape.

Despite its remoteness, Taiari / Chalky Inlet has seen frequent waves of human interaction. Early European accounts suggest that a population of Māori inhabited the fiord for a time, while battles between iwi (tribes) are said to have taken place in neighbouring Rakituma, but the extent of this habitation is not known. The fiord was regularly visited by Europeans during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with explorers including James Cook and Jules de Blosseville giving many of the features their European names. As with the rest of the Fiordland coast, the fiord was briefly inhabited by crews of whalers and sealers, until declines in the population of these animals made the industry uneconomic by the 1830s.

Following the departure of sealers from the fiord, human presence in Taiari has been at low levels, typically due to its isolation. Visits have been primarily for research or tourism, with photographs taken in the fiord during the late 19th century contributing to the campaign to establish the area as a national park. Unlike more developed fiords to the north (such as Milford Sound / Piopiotahi or Doubtful Sound / Patea), Taiari / Chalky Inlet has no defined land access, limiting human interaction to sea or air. This, along with pest control efforts on the islands within the fiord, has allowed for populations of native species to recover, although a number of invasive species remain a threat.