Nuakata Island is a small, mountainous island in the Goschen Strait south of Normanby Island

Normanby Island, Papua New Guinea

Normanby Island is a volcanic, 400 square mile , L-shaped island, the southern most island in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands group...

 and east of East Cape

East Cape

East Cape is the easternmost point of the main islands of New Zealand. It is located to the north of Gisborne in the northeast of the North Island....

. It is part of Milne Bay Province

Milne Bay Province

Milne Bay is a province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Alotau. The province covers 14,000 km² of land and 252,990 km² of sea, within the province there are more than 600 islands, about 160 of which are inhabited...

, Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

.

The island is inhabited by about 500 people. The people of the island speak a dialect of the 'Auhelawa language

'Auhelawa language

’Auhelawa is an Austronesian language spoken by about 1,200 people in Nuakata Island and the southeastern tip of Normanby Island in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea.- ’Auhelawa examples :A: Auge, yauwedo. Haidova u lalau?...

, also spoken on the south coast of Normanby Island. They live in traditional settlements and practicing subsistence horticulture and some harvesting of sea resources such as fish, beche-de-mer and trochus for cash. An international NGO, Conservation International

Conservation International

Conservation International is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, which seeks to ensure the health of humanity by protecting Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity. CI’s work focuses on six key initiatives that affect human well-being: climate, food security, freshwater...

, has selected the island for the future development of a community-based marine protected area.