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

Highlighted reports

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

Regional Estuary Monitoring Programme trend report: 2001 to 2018 Regional Estuary Monitoring Programme (REMP)

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.

Ohautira Stream

2 sites

Waitetuna River

3 sites

Waingaro River

1 site

Wainui Stream

1 site

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