Welcome to Hawke's Bay Regional Council’s web pages about the people, the economy and the environment of the region.
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Hawke’s Bay has a warm, sunny, Mediterranean climate. Summer can be hotter than the average for the country, with droughts occurring regularly, and winters are mild although frosts and occasional snow do occur.
The Hawke’s Bay region covers a total land area of approx 1.42 million hectares, with 350 km of coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The region stretches from the stunning Mahia Peninsula in the north, to the sweeping beaches of Porangahau in the south, and inland to the dramatic Ruataniwha and Kaweka mountain ranges. The region has 7 major rivers (Wairoa, Mohaka, Esk, Tutaekuri, Ngaruroro, Tukituki and Waipawa). Waikaremoana is the major inland lake within Te Urewera National Park. Significant wetland areas include Pekapeka Swamp and Whakaki.
There are many famous landmarks in the region with cultural and scenic significance including Te Urewera National Park, Mahia Peninsula, Cape Kidnappers with its major gannet colony, the ranges to the west, and Te Mata Peak. Important environmental reserve areas are the Te Urewera National Park, Boundary Stream, (a 700 hectare reserve north-west of Napier), Bell Bird Bush, Ruahine and Kaweka Forest Parks, Whakaki, Ahuriri, Waitangi, Pekapeka and Hatuma wetland, Lake Tutira with its wildlife reserve and country park and Te Mata Peak which is highly accessible to urban people.
The area encompasses four local councils – Wairoa District, Napier City, Hastings District and Central Hawke’s Bay District.
Hawke’s Bay represents 3.7% of the national population. The population of Hawke’s Bay is approx 147,783 people (Statistics March 2009) covering Wairoa District 9,900, Napier City 53,463, Hastings District 66,279 and Central Hawke's Bay District 13,038.
The main cities are Hastings and Napier, and main towns Waipukurau, Waipawa and Wairoa, with other sizable settlements throughout the region. At the end of 2006, there were 60,759 dwellings in Hawke's Bay.
Please visit Statistics New Zealand for more info
The region has a low industrial base, but within that there are significant national companies based in Hawke’s Bay. Each district has a primary production and processing base, significantly in Hastings, and Napier to a lesser extent. The Napier/Hastings area is also the base for most of the region’s major service industries, particularly to support farming and horticulture. The wine industry is flourishing here because of the warm climate, ideal soils and reliable aquifer water supplies. A strong tourism sector is building on the climate and wine industry strengths.
At the end of 2006, total employment in the region was 73,173, up 5.3% on the previous year (compared to 4.4% for New Zealand).
Please visit Statistics New Zealand for more info
As safeguarding our environment is our major role, you will find a lot of information about our environment by clicking the tabs above. However there are a number of key environmental issues we are working to overcome.
“Overall, our environment in Hawke's Bay is in reasonable condition but this report indicates a mixed performance in terms of the detail of what’s happening to the state of our environment …” . This is a quote from the Regional Council’s “State of the Environment Report 2002” which highlights the following Key Environmental Issues:
- Loss and degradation of soil due to erosion and inappropriate management practices.
- Scarcity of indigenous vegetation and ecologically significant wetlands.
- The effects of conflicting land-uses, eg, odour, smoke, dust, noise and agrichemical spray-drift.
- The potential adverse effects of agrichemical use on health, property and the environment.
- The negative community impacts of poor management of organic waste from primary processing industries.
- The risk of ground water contamination arising from industry land-use practices, discharges of contaminants and spillages.
- Potential over-use of the region’s groundwater and river gravel resources.
- Reduction in the quantity and quality of regional surface water resources (rivers, lakes, wetlands) due to inefficient and inappropriate use, and contamination.
- Biosecurity issues include the impact of animal and plant pests.
- The sustainable management of the region’s coastal resources.
- Community impacts of potential natural hazards – floods, droughts, earthquakes, volcanic ash falls and tsunami.
- The maintenance and enhancement of the physical infrastructure (transport, communications, energy, water supply, sewerage and rubbish disposal).