Welcome to Hawke's Bay Regional Council website pages on the coast.
In this section you will find out about coastal issues such as coastal ecology, water quality at our beaches, pollution management and coastal hazards, the government’s Ocean’s Policy, and the role of the Harbour Master in navigation and safety management.
Information is also available about the major commercial operations on our coast, the Port of Napier Ltd and the proposed marine farm.
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Hawke’s Bay has 350 km of rich and diverse coastline, facing the Pacific Ocean and the morning sun.
Long treasured by Maori as a food source and transport route, our coastline continues to provide superb recreational and business opportunities. As demand for property with a coastal outlook or proximity has increased in recent years, development issues and their impact on the environment have become important.
Hawke’s Bay’s coastal resources include deep offshore open waters and a shallower continental shelf. Undulating cliffs, harbours and small bays, low lying longshore dunes and bars, rock platforms, estuaries, river mouths, and sandy and shingle beaches give us a dynamic coastline. Offshore there are reefs and small islands.
Commerce
The Port of Napier is a growing, commercial complex, and wharves and slipways are used by commercial and recreational boat owners at various locations along the coast. Navigational safety is required through the bay. Commercial fishing is important to the local economy, and the future development of a large, open sea mussel farm will add to the economic value of its coastal waters.
Recreation
In addition to their commercial value the region's coastal areas are enjoyed by many Hawke's Bay people; fishing, diving, boating, and swimming are all popular recreational activities. Maori traditions, including the protection of natural resources also need to be respected and taken into consideration.
Reports
The coastal marine area (to a limit of 12 nautical miles) is managed through the Regional Coastal Plan. This is being reviewed in 2004/05, to develop the Regional Coastal Environment Plan.
Coastal resources are monitored and reported in the State of the Environment Report.
Water quality in our ocean is generally excellent, with the occasional contamination resulting from seasonal algal blooms or rivers after heavy rain.
However, a number of significant issues related to the coast are currently before the Regional Council, which will be a focus for work activities in the coming years.
- Demand for residential land alongside the coast.
- Coastal hazard zone and management of erosion and future planning requirements
- Treatment and disposal of sewage and waste water at small coastal settlements
- Review of our resource management planning through the Regional Coastal Plan in 2004/05.
- Water quality at bathing beaches and in the ocean
- Oil spills and shipping hazards.
- Dune protection to reduce erosion and wind blown sand nuisances.
- Tsunami, sea inundation, and storm hazards.
- Control polluting discharges into rivers that empty out into our coast, and into the sea itself, and management of sewage at coastal communities
- Involve the community in planning through the Regional Coastal Plan.
- Cooperation between Councils in planning residential and commercial developments along the coast, and good cooperation with commercial enterprises in ongoing management of their coastal resources.
- Community coast care programmes to control dune erosion and movement.
- Maintain navigation and safety controls and an effective oil spill response.
- Better education of coastal residents about tsunami, oil spills and other sea hazards.
Please contact us should you require further information.