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Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō

Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō is a deep drowned valley, created by a crater from a large volcano on Banks Peninsula. The harbour has a variety of seascapes, including sandy beaches, rocky shores and cliffs, intertidal mudflats, and two islands.

Pressures on the health of the Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō include sediment from rural and urban land use activities and seabed dredging, nutrients from rural land use, contaminants from stormwater, and wastewater from broken/leaky pipes and old septic tanks. Industrial activities from the port are a potential source of metal contaminants and nutrients, and commercial shipping, cruise ships, and recreational boating also adds pressure on the health of Lyttelton/Whakaraupō.

The benthic communities with Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō are in 'poor' health.

The harbour is a culturally significant area for mana whenua and an important site for mahinga kai, and the location of the South Island’s busiest port.

An abundance of wildlife and marine organisms can be found in the harbour, including the endangered Hector's dolphin/ tūpoupou, the New Zealand fur sea/kekeno, and at least 42 species of marine birds.

Estuary summary

What makes my estuary unique?

Explore the characteristics of this estuary

Overview

Estuary characteristics

  • Significant features
    • Location of the South Island’s busiest port
    • Thirty-eight taonga marine species have been identified in the harbour.
    • Two mātaitai reserves, one covering the majority of Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō and another in the vicinity of Rāpaki. Mātaitai reserves recognise and provide for traditional fishing through local management by mana whenua.
    • Forms part of the Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary (14,310 km2 total), created to protect the endangered Hector’s dolphin/tūpoupou, one of the world’s rarest and smallest dolphins.
  • Total area
    4300 hectares
  • Total shoreline length
    14.5 km
  • Tide
    Spring tides: 2.56m high, 0.79m low; Neap tides: 2.02m high, 0.35m low
  • Key rivers
    • Zephyr Stream
    • Living Springs Stream
    • Duck Creek
    • Purau Stream
    • Te Wharau Stream

Highlighted reports

These links are from your regional councils and unitary authorities and provide additional information about this estuary

Sediments and Biota of the intertidal mudflats of upper Lyttelton Harbour

Related factsheets

For more details on particular topics see these factsheets

Understanding estuaries Estuary types

Department of Conservation

Want to connect with restoration groups or explore your local estuary? You can find more information on the DOC’s interactive maps.

Restoring estuaries map Experiencing estuaries map

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.

Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō

9 sites

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.

Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō

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

See this site

 Monitored sites 2

Select a monitored site from the list below

...retrieving sites.

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