Jane Nees BOP Regional Councillor www.janenees.co.nz

Tauranga Harbour is a very special place, and a lot of work is being done by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to protect and restore it.

Regional Council expenditure in the last financial year on the harbour programme was more than $4.7million.

The work is supported by an extensive monitoring programme which shows some encouraging trends. Catchment streams and harbour monitoring sites are stabilising and in many cases improving.

There are still significant issues with loss of biodiversity, sedimentation and colonisation of coastal habitats by mangroves.

However real progress is being made: 78km of stream banks were fenced for stock exclusion and planted in native plants. 756ha of erosion prone land was retired from productive use through a combination of riparian and biodiversity management plans.

Forty-three riparian management agreements were implemented with private landowners to improve water quality. Stream bank erosion works were completed at 13 sites.

Beach cast sea lettuce totaling 280 tonnes was cleared from Tauranga Harbour high public use foreshore areas.

A consent for mangrove seedling removal is in place. The tender process for construction of seedling mower has been completed and a hovercraft is under construction for seedling control. Thirty-three hectares of mangrove stumps were lowered and a further 1.5ha of mature mangroves were cleared.

Five research projects were completed on sedimentation, sea lettuce and nutrient dynamics.

Nine Tauranga Harbour Margins Pilot Projects were implemented together with district council partners and landowners.

Twelve estuary care groups and three land care groups were supported. Eight coastal margin litter cleanups were completed by 600 volunteers. More than 100 tonnes of rubbish were removed from the harbour and stream by volunteers.

The list of work underway goes on and on - covering areas like land management, pollution prevention, flood-water modelling, pest management, and harbour patrols. Good progress is being made but there is still so much work to do.

If you have views on this or any other issue, you can email me at neesj@xtra.co.nz or ring me on 07 579 5150.