This page has links to as many useful sources of information and background documents as we can find.
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A summary of the natural features and condition of the Inlet can be viewed in a StoryMap using this link:
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This mapping tool has detailed aerial photographs and maps showing contours at half metre intervals, spot heights, property boundaries, reserves, legal roads, RMA planning zones, etc., etc. It also has historic aerial photos which reveal changes in the shoreline since the 1940s and the 1980s.
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Tasman District Council website
- Draft review of the Waimea Inlet Management Strategy and Action Plan – comments invited until 10 March 2023
- Waimea Inlet Management Strategy
- Waimea Inlet Action Plan
- Waimea Inlet Record of Achievement 2022 (pdf 1.3 MB)
- Waimea Inlet Broad-Scale Habitat Mapping 2020 (Final with addendum June 2021) (pdf 13 MB)
- Waimea Estuary Vulnerability Assessment 2010 (archived pdf, 2.9 MB)
- Fine scale monitoring of the Waimea Inlet (2013/14) (archived pdf, 2.4 MB)
- Broad scale habitat mapping of the Waimea Inlet (2014) (archived pdf, 3.1 MB)
- Waimea Inlet Historical Sediment Coring 2011 (archived pdf, 1.7 MB)
- Waimea Estuary Sponge Gardens (2008) (pdf, 1.2 MB)
- Fine-scale habitat mapping of Waimea Estuary (2006) (archived pdf, 1.2 MB)
- Impacts of Sewage Sludge Disposal on Waimea Estuary (2003) (archived pdf, 2.5 MB)
- Broad-scale habitat mapping of Waimea and Ruataniwha Estuaries (2003) (archived pdf, 4.9 MB)
- The Ecology of Waimea Estuary (1990) (archived pdf, 8.8 MB)
- Important Coastal Areas Kahurangi Point to Waimea Inlet (1993) (archived pdf, 52MB) Pages 106 to 112 cover Waimea Inlet.
- Moturoa/Rabbit Island Reserve Management Plan 2016 (pdf, 2.7 MB)
- Moutere-Waimea Ward Reserves Management Plan 2022 (pdf, 10 MB)
- Information on Spartina (archived pdf, 333 KB)
- State of the Environment – River Water Quality in Tasman District 2015 (archived pdf, 33 MB)
- Effects of selected activities on Shorebirds 2013 (archived pdf 1.3MB)
- Ecological Assessment Reports – Rough Island Shag Colony (pdf, 612 KB)
- Ecological Assessment Reports – Rabbit Island Beach East (pdf, 836 KB)
- Ecological Assessment Reports – Rabbit Island West Beach (pdf, 929 KB)
- Ecological Assessment Reports – Rabbit Island Manuka (pdf, 918 KB)
- Ecological Assessment Reports – Rough Island Wetland (pdf, 1.1 MB)
- Ecological Assessment Report – Rough Island Hunter-Brown Forest Remnant (pdf, 1.3 MB)
- Moutere Ecological District Report – Northern Sector, December 2015 (pdf, 2.6 MB)
- Cultural Heritage Sites – AL20 Mapua/Waimea Islands NW and AL21 Waimea Islands SE (pdf, 315 KB) (note that these are in the Tasman Resource Management Plan, along with the other relevant maps AL19, AM20, AM21)
- Nelson Tasman Land Development Manual July 2019 (pdf, 31 MB)
- Impact of discharges from stormwater systems on streams and estuary margins in Richmond: 2010 (pdf, 3.19MB)
- Waimea and Moutere Sediment Sources by Land Use: 2018 (archived pdf, 4.2MB)
- Waimea Inlet Coastal Flats planting list (pdf, 347 KB)
- Restoring Saltmarsh Communities in Tasman District (pdf, 1.47 MB)
- Restoration of the Waimea Delta Wetland (Youtube video)
- Five environmental monitoring reports on coastal birds of the Tasman shoreline
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Nelson City Council website:
- State of the Environment Report (2018) (PDF, 63MB) The eastern part of Waimea Inlet and contributing streams are included in this wide-ranging report.
- Waimea Inlet: microbiological water quality context (2017) (PDF, 842KB)
- Natural Character of the Nelson Coastal Environment (2015) (pdf, 10.0 MB) Pages 58 to 61 (Rating the marine area of that part of the Inlet lying within Nelson City as having a moderate overall natural character), 112 to 117 (Rating the terrestrial area of that part of the Inlet lying within Nelson City as having a moderate-low overall natural character, but giving Saxton, Pig and Sand Islands a high rating)
- Shorebirds of Farewell Spit, Golden Bay and Tasman Bay Report (2013) (1.4MB PDF)
- Coastal Birds of the Tasman/Nelson Region (2019) (7.1MB pdf)
- Esplanade and Foreshore Reserves Management Plan (2008) Pages 9 to 22 (general policies), 108 to 116, 125 to 127 (details of various coastal and island reserves by the Waimea Inlet)
- Tahunanui Reserve Management Plan (2004)
- Stoke Streams Rescue Project (2011-2013) (4.3MB PDF)
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Department of Conservation website:
- Waimea Inlet restoration resource (PDF, 1,096K)
- Our Estuaries Hub. This community resource will help you explore and learn more about New Zealand’s many estuaries.
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Nelson Regional Sewerage Business Unit website:
- Coastal Effects Of The Nelson Bell Island Regional Sewerage Discharge
- Bell Island Discharge and Dilution modelling
- Rabbit Island biosolids programme
- Assessment of the effects of biosolids application at Rabbit Island on the marine environment. (4MB PDF)
- Draft Bell Island Management Plan
The Regional Sewerage Business Unit applied to renew its discharge consents in November 2019. It produced a number of reports in support of this, several of which add considerably to our understanding of the health of the Inlet. These appendices are on the Tasman District Council’s website. They may be removed before you read this, but here are links to them:
- 2_1 Appendix A – Existing Resource Consents (pdf, 5.7 MB)
- 2_2 Appendix B – Projected Wastewater Influent Quality and Quantity Projections (pdf, 12 KB)
- 2_3 Appendix C – Cawthron Environmental Effects Summary Report (pdf, 4.2 MB)
- 2_4 Appendix D – Capacity of the Marine Receiving Environment to Assimilate Additional Nutrients (pdf, 1.4 MB)
- 2_5 Appendix E – MetOcean Hydrodynamic Modelling Report (pdf, 6.7 MB)
- 2_6 Appendix F – Emerging Contaminants Report (pdf, 507 KB)
- 2_7 Appendix G – NIWA Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment Report (pdf, 561 KB)
- 2_8 Appendix H – Cultural Effects Assessment (pdf, 1.3 MB) (Ngati Kuia)
- 2_9 Appendix I – Assessment of Objectives and Policies (pdf, 366 KB)
- 2_10 Appendix J – Pipe and Diffuser Outlet Structure Plan (pdf, 739 KB)
- 2_11 Appendix K – Stakeholder and Iwi Consultation Supporting Information (pdf, 2.5 MB)
The discharge consents were renewed in February 2020 for a period of 20 years. The decision can be found here. The consent conditions are here.
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Tasman Bay Guardians website:
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Land Air Water Aotearoa website:
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Other:
- Waimea Inlet Pest Plant Strategy November 2021 (pdf. 5.15MB)
- Enhancing banded rail habitat in Maisey Embayment, Western Waimea Inlet (2018) (pdf, 1.11 MB)
- Trawling customs of the Tasman Bay Maoris, by F. V. Knapp (1940)
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Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga manages a list of recorded archaeological sites throughout New Zealand. The records can be searched on their website. Use this link to search for sites around the Inlet. Use the key words “Waimea Inlet” and “Mapua”. Please note that this list is not exhaustive – there are also other sites around the Inlet.
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University theses
- Some aspects of the breeding biology of the Dominican gull Larus dominicanus in Nelson province (pdf, 8.5 MB)
- Maori occupation sites in back beach deposits around Tasman Bay (pdf, 9.8 MB). This 1966 thesis includes findings from excavations at Tahunanui, Oyster Island, Rabbit Island, Rough Island, and Mapua
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And two great overviews of New Zealand estuaries and challenges for their management
Waimea Inlet Forum 