Swimming

• Identify areas for public swimming which are away from important habitats, especially shorebird feeding and nesting areas
• Provide the minimal level of infrastructure (such as toilets, rubbish bins and car parking) to ensure impacts are reduced
• Where access is over sensitive environments, such as dunes or wetlands, consider installing boardwalks or pathways to reduce impacts

Surfing, board sailing, kite boarding, stand-up paggle boarding and surf skiing

• Provide the minimal level of land-based infrastructure (such as toilets, rubbish bins and car parking) to ensure impacts are reduced
• Promote education as a way to modify user behaviour and attitudes towards the marine environment, such as that provided by local clubs and Surf Lifesaving New Zealand
• Where access is over sensitive environments, such as dunes and wetlands, consider installing boardwalks or pathways to reduce impacts
• Require certification for tourist operators to show environmental aspects have been addressed, for example Qualmark’s Enviro-Gold is its top level in the Green rating for performers in Responsible Tourism ²⁹⁶²

Diving and snorkelling 

• Reduce the impacts on vulnerable species by rotating visits around a number of sites
• Restrict the number of visitors to sensitive environments and habitats, for example at Golden Bay’s Waikoropupu (Pupu Springs), diving is not permitted before midday and only four divers at a time are allowed to enter the water
• Promote education as a way to modify diver and snorkelling behaviour, such as that provided by local clubs and diving organisations
• Where access is over sensitive environments, such as dunes and wetlands, consider installing boardwalks or pathways to reduce impacts
• Require certification for tourist operators to show environmental aspects have been given due consideration, for example Qualmark’s Enviro-Gold is its top level in the Green rating for performers in Responsible Tourism ²⁹⁶⁴
  
• In sensitive areas, control landing permits and only allow registered dive charter operators to land
• Support diver awareness programmes, such as Project AWARE which is a non-profit organisation working in over 180 countries engaging the diving community to undertake voluntary work to care for the marine environment.

Boating

• Install holding tanks in recreational vessels with seawater flushing toilets
• Avoiding washing or scrubbing antifouling painted hulls on the foreshore or intertidal area
• Provide sealed boat haul out areas where discharges can be contained
• Use more environmentally friendly compounds in antifouling paint
• Minimise the production of on-board waste and use land-based disposal
• Limit unnecessary use of any flood lights at night and ensure that those that are required are directed approximately vertically onto work surfaces
• Reduce boat speed in areas where marine mammals are likely to be present and keep well clear of the animals.
• Reduce the speed of vessels in areas susceptible to ecological impacts from wake
• In remote sensitive areas, control landing permits or enforce no public landing, such as at Little Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf ²⁹⁶⁶
  
• Identify public anchoring areas, and install public mooring buoys, in environments sensitive to anchor damage
• Adopt the Clean Boating Programme recommendations for individual boaties, including guidance about simple household alternatives to harmful products to use while boating and ways to reduce the transfer of marine pests ²⁹⁶⁷
  

Fishing

• Follow the Southern Seabird Solutions recommendations ²⁹⁶⁹  for mitigating impacts of recreational fishing on seabirds
• Haul nets in as quickly as possible
• Limit unnecessary use of any flood lights at night and ensure that those that are required are directed approximately vertically onto work surfaces
• Reduce boat speed in areas where marine mammals are likely to be present  and keep well clear of the animals
• Reduce the speed of boats in areas susceptible to ecological impacts from wake
• Identify public anchoring areas, and install public mooring buoys, in environments sensitive to anchor damage
• Adopt the Clean Boating Programme recommendations while fishing – including the ways to reduce the spread of marine pests

Marine mammal and seabird interactions

• Ensure compliance with regulations governing interactions with marine mammals, so that the animals are not harassed
• Educate the public about good behaviour around marine mammals
• Restrict the number of marine mammal tourism trips to ensure that no significant adverse impacts on the populations occur
• Provide rest times and exclusion areas for marine mammals to enable them to have a break and refuge from human interaction
• Reduce boat speed in areas where marine mammals are likely to be present, keep a good look out, and keep propellers well away from the animals
• Exclude vehicles and members of the public from areas of the beach used by nesting seabirds

Cruise Ships

• Exchange ballast water in mid ocean or operate a type-approved ballast water management system
• Reduce ships speed in areas where whales are likely to be present to less than 10 knots
• Reduce the speed of vessels in areas susceptible to ecological impacts from wake
• Reduce the impacts on vulnerable species by rotating any visiting cruise ships around a number of sites
• Restrict the number of visitors able to access sensitive environments and habitats
• Minimise the use of night illumination to reduce impacts on seabirds including limiting unnecessary use of any flood lights at night and ensuring that those that are required are directed approximately vertically onto work surfaces

Special events and sporting contests

• Identify areas for special events and sporting contests that are away from important habitats, especially shorebird feeding and nesting areas
• Provide the minimal level of infrastructure (such as toilets and rubbish bins), appropriate for the level of activity, to ensure the impacts from the event are reduced
• Provide educational resources on registration that support good environmental outcomes

General coastal and beach activities

• Identify areas for special events and sporting contests that are away from important habitats, especially shorebird feeding and nesting areas
• Provide the minimal level of infrastructure (such as toilets and rubbish bins), appropriate for the level of activity, to ensure the impacts from the event are reduced
• Provide educational resources on registration that support good environmental outcomes

Holiday homes

• Concentrate development in areas which have already been impacted and avoid development in places with high natural character or landscape values
• Where coastal areas are to be developed, design the development in a way that maintains natural character and landscape values, such as through setting buildings back from the coastal edge and away from sensitive habitats such as dunes and wetlands
• Incorporate restoration of the coastal environment into the development