The health of waterways and wildlife around Tauranga Moana has been highlighted as a feature of the 2016/2017 Tauranga Moana Programme process.
A combined effort from local community groups and land and business owners will be crucial in the improvement of the Tauranga Harbour and catchments.
Bay of Plenty Regional Direction and Delivery Committee chairwoman and councillor Paula Thompson said the programme was already underway to improve the area.
"Support for hapū to improve land and water across nine restoration projects, stormwater system checks on 350 industrial sites, assistance to four new environmental care groups, and negotiation of 27 new environmental management plans with landowners are just some of the actions that have been delivered through joint council, iwi and community work under the Tauranga Moana Programme in the past year," she said.
Ms Thompson said there was more work to be done and it would only be possible with the ongoing co-operation and support of iwi, volunteers, land and business owners.
The work is guided by the Tauranga Moana Iwi Collective in partnership with the three councils.
Bay of Plenty Regional, Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty District Councils have been coordinating and reporting jointly on their work to care for Tauranga Moana and its contributing land and waterways since 2013.
The committee received a report on the 2016/17 Tauranga Moana Programme progress at their meeting last week which showed a range of work across science, planning, and operational activities had been delivered throughout the year.
The report highlighted that 69 business owners were making improvements to their stormwater systems which followed council recommendations after pollution prevention checks were conducted.
The report also showed a total of 149 private landowners now had agreements in place with the regional council to improve the management of sediment, nutrient and bacteria run-off from their properties, and 32 environmental care groups were actively working on restoration projects around the harbour, with assistance from the councils.
Tauranga Harbour catchments manager Sarah Omundsen said more than 90 per cent of waterways throughout the Tauranga Moana catchments had now been protected from access by farm stock.
"A further 50km of waterway protection is planned for 2017/18 and we will be amplifying our efforts with landowners in the coming years through a new collaboration with Uretara Estuary Managers, Ministry for the Environment and Western Bay of Plenty District Council.
"We are co-funding the five-year, $500,000 Katikati Hills to Ocean Project being led by Uretara Estuary Managers. They will be adding to the usual suite of riparian and wetland restoration work we support, by restoring whitebait spawning habitat and fish passage in the waterways that drain into Uretara Estuary near Katikati, " she said.
The improvement of Tauranga Moana coincides with World Rivers Day which is on September 24. To find out more about the regional council's work on waterways visit www.boprc.govt.nz/freshwaterfutures.