The Porirua Harbour
focus of the Porirua Harbour and Catchments Community Trust
known as the Porirua Harbour Trust (PHT)
Welcome to the Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour and Catchments Community Trust (PHT) website
The Porirua Harbour (Te Awarua o Porirua) is the heart of Porirua City and the largest estuary system in the lower North Island. It’s a place of cultural, ecological, recreational, and economic importance — and it needs our care.
Our mission is simple: to protect and restore the health of the harbour while ensuring it remains a place for people, wildlife, and future generations to enjoy.
Vision & Purpose
- Vision: A harbour and catchment that is healthy, resilient, and thriving — where ecosystems are protected or restored, people can safely use and enjoy the harbour, kai moana is safe to harvest, and economic activity is sustained without compromising future needs.
- Purpose: To adopt a long-term perspective in decision making, foster public awareness of the harbour’s values, promote and facilitate restorative actions, and to actively advocate and monitor for the best possible outcomes for the harbour and catchment.
Latest News
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Post southerly day delights
On one of Porirua’s “sorry for yesterday’s southerly” days, the Pāpakowhai lagoons were showing off the benefits of the planting programmes while in the reserve “freshwater” pond the duckweed bloom from nutrient enriched stormwater runoff didn’t seem to upset the resident eels playful behaviour!.
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Harbour could degrade further under proposed new legislation
The Harbour Trust and the Guardians of the Inlet have made joint submissions on the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill. We support well planned growth and development compatible with environmental limits and ecological capacity. These Bills, as currently written, will not deliver that. Our concerns are that the Bills lack clear, enforceable and…
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Foreshore clean up Thursday 26 Feb – CANCELLED
SORRY TO ADVISE THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED BY THE HARBOUR ACCORD PARTNERS. A RESCHEDULE DATE WILL BE POSTED WHEN AVAILABLE Join us as we come together to care for Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour and restore its mauri through collective action. Thursday 26 February 2026 9:00am – 1:00pm Porirua Harbour & adjoining coastal areas Meet at…
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Rig slaughtered near Ration Point on the Inlet
A Regional Council team conducting the annual monitoring of sediment plates in the Inlet came across a total of 23 dead rig with slit gills and a stingray with its barb removed. Reports were made to MPI poaching and fisheries teams. While there was no evidence of who was responsible* or how the sharks and…
Follow the news and stay up to date with cultural, ecological, recreational, and economic activities around the Porirua Harbour. Browse the news gallery, visit us on Facebook or subscribe to News by Email.
Explore the Harbour
Discover the largest estuary in the lower North Island
This website will give you an introduction to our wonderful harbour. The link below will help build your knowledge of this natural treasure or taonga. We hope it will also whet your appetite to physically experience the environment in all its moods and gain a better understanding of the changes that humans have wreaked on the habitats of the awarua. We hope too that it might inspire you to lend your support to restoring the harbour’s health.
Take a hike and meander the inlet
Latest Events
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Foreshore clean up Thursday 26 Feb – CANCELLED
SORRY TO ADVISE THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED BY THE HARBOUR ACCORD PARTNERS. A RESCHEDULE DATE WILL BE POSTED WHEN AVAILABLE Join us as we come together to care for Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour and restore its mauri through collective action. Thursday 26 February 2026 9:00am – 1:00pm Porirua Harbour & adjoining coastal areas Meet at…
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Porirua CBD Foreshore clean up
January 25 @ 8:00 am – 9:30 am Behind the Porirua Pak’nSave Parumoana Street. Petone Beach Clean-up and KNZB flags will clearly be seen for the meeting point.Bags and grabbers will be supplied, please bring gardening gloves if you own some.If you want to cross the inlet at low tide, be prepared to get wet up to waist height.…
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Mutumutu ki Mukukai
Led by Mutumutu and Mukukai, kaitiaki of fresh and saltwater for Ngāti Toa, this exhibition aims to share the cultural values, knowledge and enduring relationship of Ngāti Toa, as kaitiaki mana whenua, to the interconnected water sources of this region. A focus is the urgent return to full health of the once teeming ecosystem of…
Subscribe to our events calendar and stay up to date with cultural, ecological, recreational, and economic activities around the Porirua Harbour. Browse the events calender, visit us on Facebook or subscribe to Events by Email.
Media Galleries
The harbour is a rich subject for nature photography and videograhy. An exquisite compilation showcases a diverse array of media that capture the essence of different eras.
