Port Tarakohe is the busiest Council-owned port in our region. Get all the information you need about access and making bookings here.
Council owns, or has responsibility for, inspection and/or maintenance functions for four ports and wharves throughout the District.
Tasman District Council also owns 50% of Port Nelson Ltd(external link), in a joint venture operation with Nelson City Council.
Phone 03 543 8400
VHF channel 16
Tasman District Council, 189 Queen Street, Richmond, Nelson, 7020, New Zealand
Phone 03 525 8174 or 027 446 3891
VHF channels 28 or 60
Licensing and regulatory requirements apply to commercial vessel operators in the Tasman District region.
Licences are required, and must be renewed by 31 October each year.
Read about commercial vessel licensing requirements
To request more information or to discuss a proposed operation, please contact us on 03 543 8400 or email the Harbourmaster.
Fuel and water supplies are available at several wharves and marinas around the district.
All marine fuel transfer points (shore to ship) must have a Tier-1 Site Oil Spill Contingency Plan approved by Council’s Regional On-Scene Commander (ROSC), under Maritime Rules.
Maritime New Zealand enforces these rules, and severe penalties apply for failure to have such a plan in place when a fuel transfer occurs.
If you are ordering a fuel delivery from a mobile tanker, check that they are approved by asking the supplier to produce their approved Tier-1 plan, or contact the Regional On-Scene Commander on 03 543 8400.
There are no permanent marine fuelling points for petrol in Tasman District. Small craft users can obtain petrol using portable containers from standard service stations within easy walking distance of the ramps at Kaiteriteri and Collingwood.
There are two diesel marine fuelling points in the district. Port users may use the site at the main wharf at Port Tarakohe using an NPD fuel card.
There is also a pump intended for fishing vessels at Talley’s wharf at Port Motueka. Contact Talley’s on 03 528 2800 to arrange access.
Certain mobile tanker operators are approved to transfer Light Fuel Oil at certain wharves in the District. In general however, ships requiring Light Fuel Oil and heavier oils should bunker at Port Nelson.
Potable water is available at the wharves and marinas at Māpua, Motueka and Tarakohe.
Water is also available from the following locations. Those marked with a * are not necessarily from a designated drinking water supply, so should be treated with caution.
*Note: This water is known to be contaminated with faecal coliforms and should be treated before use. Recommended methods are boiling or batch treating with chlorine at a rate of 3g/m3 (e.g a bottle-capful of Clor-o-gene or Budget Household Bleach per 100L).
All vessels are required to comply with marine pollution regulations. This section advises how to deal with waste properly.
It is prohibited to discharge untreated sewage within 500 metres of shore or a marine farm, 200 metres of a marine reserve, or in water less than five metres deep.
This effectively prohibits discharge of untreated sewage within Astrolabe Roadstead, or in the greater Torrent Bay, for example. Urine is acceptable.
There are no pump-out sewage reception facilities in Tasman district. However, for those with cartridge toilets (self-contained camping-type toilets) there are a number of caravan dump points.
It is illegal to discharge plastics or oils into the water.
All oil spills into the sea must by law be reported immediately to the Council’s Regional On-Scene Commander on 03 543 8400 or to Maritime New Zealand.
The spiller must also take all safe and practicable steps to contain the spill and minimise environmental harm until trained oil spill response staff are able to assess the spill.
Please retain all rubbish aboard for proper disposal ashore.
Boat hulls that are not routinely trailered should be regularly treated with an anti-fouling paint that complies with the latest environmental protection regulations and guidelines.
A clean hull is more efficient through the water, and helps prevent the spread of unwanted marine pests.
However, there are no dedicated slipways in Tasman district with containment and treatment facilities for what comes off your hull when you are cleaning and painting it.
It is important to contain any biofouling and any chemical contaminants, and dispose of that waste properly, for example to landfill.
Significant penalties can apply under the Resource Management Act or Biosecurity Act for unauthorised discharge of contaminants into the coastal marine area.
If you are unable to trailer or slip your vessel onto dry land, placing a lined tarpaulin under where you are working during careening, and taking it away for disposal at each tide, is generally appropriate for smaller boats.
For small quantities, disposal with your normal household waste is acceptable.
Heavily fouled or large boats should use an appropriate containment facility, for example the commercial haul-outs at Port Nelson.
Your marine retailer will be able to advise on the most appropriate anti-fouling paint.
This section covers general navigation guidelines and safety information.
View the Navigation Safety Bylaw
The official 'road maps' of the sea are the paper and electronic nautical charts published by Land Information New Zealand. The largest scale chart of the area you are boating in should always be carried, and kept up to date. You can subscribe for free Notices to Mariners at www.linz.govt.nz.
Remember that most electronic chart plotters and GPS units do not update automatically – you must buy a new card after an update.
You must report any unintentional grounding or other mishap as soon as practicable to:
All boats must show lights from sunset to sunrise and whenever visibility is restricted when underway or at anchor.
Ensure that you meet the minimum standards for a boat of your size and type. Note that vessels over 7m long must also show a black ball if anchored during the day. A black buoy hung from the forward rail is ideal.
Maritime Rule Part 22 specifies lighting requirements, as well as the 'rules of the road' at sea.
For more information visit the Maritime New Zealand website: www.maritimenz.govt.nz
Details of some aids to navigation (marks) are provided below. If you are not familiar with these ‘signposts of the seas’, you should consider taking a boating education course, such as Coastguard Dayskipper or Boatmaster. See the Coastguard website for details.
The basics are hold red lateral marks on your port (left hand) side and green lateral marks on your starboard (right hand) side when entering a harbour. Obviously, it’s the other way around when departing! When travelling along the coast, hold the green fairway marks on your starboard side when travelling clockwise around the South Island.
Information on the official NZ system of Buoys and Beacons can be found on the Maritime NZ website:
There are number of informal channel marks installed by local users for their own convenience in various parts of the district, particularly Motueka, Riwaka, Waitapu, Milnthorpe and Westhaven Inlet. These should not be relied on for navigation, but are generally tolerated so long as they have minor amenity affects and can’t be confused with genuine (approved) aids to navigation.
Please notify the Harbourmaster on 03 543 8400 or by email if you find that any aid to navigation has moved or is absent or not functional, or you consider that changes in the channel warrant consideration of repositioning. Please quote the CST number if known.
Any person or organisation wishing to install, remove or alter an aid to navigation should discuss it with the Harbourmaster. A form countersigned by the Harbourmaster must be lodged to apply for formal consent from MaritimeNZ.
Please also note that it is against the law to tie up to or interfere with any aid to navigation, except in a genuine emergency or if you have the written approval of the owner or the Harbourmaster. Avoidable outages of lights or changes in position of navigation marks can endanger lives, and cost the ratepayers to put right.
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Maritime Charges |
Charges from 1 July 2024 incl. GST
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Subject to the Mooring Area Bylaw 2020 being enacted, and the Mooring Area provisions in Plan Change 72 to the Tasman Resource Management Plan being operative, the following proposed mooring charges will be in force. |
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Mooring Licence |
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Application and renewal of existing mooring licence For new applications or renewal of expiring mooring licences with substantial changes or lack of inspection report |
$372.00 |
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Annual monitoring and administration fee |
$206.00 |
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Renewal of existing mooring licence A renewal application where there are no substantial changes required to the mooring licence conditions and where all inspection reports |
$125.00 |
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Late payment fee (for annual renewal) |
Additional 20% |
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Additional costs Reimbursement of any reasonable and necessary additional costs incurred by Council in assessing an application or enforcing compliance |
$206.00/hr |
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Waitlist Administration cost |
$63.00 |
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The following navigation safety levies will be applied to all vessels over 500 gross tonnes that |
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Cruise vessels |
$28.00 per metre of vessel per visit |
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Cargo vessels |
$0.50/ |
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Other vessels |
$0.55/ |
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Extended anchoring (in addition to the appropriate per visit |
$0.11/ |
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Miscellaneous |
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Trans-shipping (per tonne trans-shipped) |
$0.28 |
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Use of Sentinel for non-emergency work (includes two crew) |
No change |
