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Whaingaroa (Raglan) Harbour

Whaingaroa (Raglan) Harbour is a tidal lagoon and drowned river valley, with intertidal sand and mudflats making up about 70 per cent of its area. The catchment area for the Harbour is 523 km2. Whaingaroa (Raglan) Harbour is used for a range of recreational activities, and for commercial and recreational harvesting of seafood.

The clearance of native vegetation over the last century in the Raglan catchment, combined with steep terrain and unstable rock, has led to significant sediment input into the harbour. The Whaingaroa Harbour Care group was formed to improve the quality of the water entering the harbour by replanting coastal and stream margins.

Whaingaroa (Raglan) Harbour is currently under increasing pressure from human activities both around the harbour margin and further into the surrounding catchment.

Whaingaroa (Raglan) Harbour is an important habitat for resident, rare and threatened, and international migratory bird species. The critically endangered Maui’s Dolphin has been recorded in Raglan Harbour.

The harbour is a site of cultural significance for Tainui iwi.

Estuary summary

What makes my estuary unique?

Explore the characteristics of this estuary

Overview

Estuary characteristics

  • Significant features
    • Maui’s Dolphin, Orcas and NZ fur seal visit harbour
    • 12km in length from entrance to eastern shore
    • Whaingaroa Harbour Care has planted more than 2 million trees
  • Total area
    3190 hectares
  • Total shoreline length
    143 km
  • Tide
    Tide range (m) (spring/mean/neap) - 2.92 / 2.28 / 1.65
  • Key rivers
    • Waitetuna River
    • Waingaro River
    • Opotoru River
    • Kerikeri River
    • Tawatahi River

What's happening upstream?

See results from monitored river quality sites influencing this estuary

River quality

What's happening upstream?

The physical characteristics and health of estuaries are influenced by the rivers and streams flowing into them. For instance, when it rains the mud and contaminants generated on land can be washed into rivers and eventually flow into the estuary. The health of our rivers and streams can therefore be very important for Estuary Health, and understanding the upstream pressures can help with interpreting estuary monitoring data.

Monitoring is undertaken for a range of river health indicators (e.g., water quality and ecology) in many catchments across the region. Where there are monitored river catchments that influence this estuary, these are shown below. You can click through to view monitoring results from these River Quality sites to see current state and how health has changed over time.

What surrounds my estuary?

See land cover information from monitored catchments that surround this estuary

Land cover

What surrounds my estuary?

The physical characteristics and health of estuaries are influenced by local geography and the way we use our land. This is because estuaries are the receiving environments for many of our land use activities. Land cover information can be used as an indicator of land use, therefore knowing the surrounding land cover can help us understand which pressures might be affecting Estuary Health.

Where there is land cover information available for nearby catchments, these are listed below. These figures show the types of vegetation and built or natural features that surround the estuary margins and the rivers that flow into this estuary. You can click through to the Land Cover topic to see these land cover classes broken down into further detail, and view changes over time.

Ohautira Stream
Waitetuna River
Waingaro River
Wainui Stream

What do the Broad Land Cover Classes mean?

Land cover information on LAWA is grouped into land cover classes at two levels of detail – broad and medium. For this overview we are showing the six broad-level classes for the catchment.

  • Forest

    Inclusive of; indigenous and exotic forest.

  • Scrub / shrubland

    Inclusive of; indigenous and exotic scrub / shrubland.

  • Grassland / other herbaceous vegetation

    Inclusive of; tussock and exotic grassland and other herbaceous vegetation.

  • Cropland

    Inclusive of; cropping / horticulture.

  • Urban / bare / lightly-vegetated surfaces

    Inclusive of; natural bare/lightly-vegetated and artificial bare surfaces, and urban area

  • Water bodies

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Monitored sites 6

Select a monitored site from the list below

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