Do you need a licence to spearfish at Ahipara?

No. New Zealand needs no recreational sea licence. Check the MPI size and bag rules before you dive.

Can you spear crayfish at Ahipara?

No. Spiny red rock lobster may not be taken with a spear.

What wind is good for Ahipara?

Anything that is not from the west. Wind and swell from 210° to 330° blow straight onto this coast.

Can you take spotted black groper?

No. Spotted black groper is protected and may not be taken.

Ahipara spearfishing forecast — New Zealand

Q: Can you take pāua at Ahipara?

Check the Te Tauroa closure first. From 15 October 2026 to 14 October 2028 you must not take pāua within 2 km of the shore from Te Huahua / Iron Gate round Tauroa Point to Hunahuna Stream, and taking pāua on scuba is banned nationwide.

Ahipara · New Zealand

2.6

wave 1.6 m head-on

visibility2m

Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding.

Sources: MetService · Open-Meteo · Copernicus · Sentinel-2 — high confidence · data 13:25

Sources & confidence

Sources: MetService · Open-Meteo · Copernicus · Sentinel-2
Method: spearo sea-state engine: consensus of up to 6 models + satellite clarity (ZSD) + buoy-bias checks
Freshness: Re-read every hour, per coast

Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine · How it works →

The verdict comes from seven water factors and hard safety gates — not ten tabs. Go or stay.

How we score the water

Our own model

Our own forecast engine — not a third-party widget. It weighs these water factors into one go-or-stay verdict for this coast; the 0–10 dial is that verdict, read out as a number.

Swell & wave memory: Height, period and direction of the swell, plus the wake of recent storms — an old storm still stirs the water, and the engine remembers.
Wind & gusts: Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
Tide phase: Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
Water temperature: Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
Currents & outflow: Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
Rain runoff & air clarity: Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
Coast shape & exposure: How the coast faces the swell — a sheltered cove keeps the water clean; an exposed, head-on point takes a penalty.

Safety gates

Thunderstorm forecast — an instant red, no exceptions.
An official warning (MeteoAlarm / IPMA) — yellow, or red for the higher ranks.
Missing input data — a would-be green is capped to yellow rather than overstated.
Strong disagreement between forecast models — a green day is pulled back to yellow.
Night hours — where night spearfishing is banned by law the window is forced red; where it is legal (Australia outside NSW, New Zealand, South Africa) it is capped at yellow, never green.

It all folds into a single 0–10 score and one verdict: go or stay.

A forecast, not a guarantee — the sea has the last word.

Where to get in, where to hunt

Entry points with coordinates

Seabed relief — promising ground

This verdict — in your pocket. Open the app for the week's window.

Google Play — QR code — point your camera

0 m

Surface

Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.

spearo.app

MetService no dataThis information is made freely available by MetService. Despite this, MetService is not associated with, and does not endorse, spearo.app or have involvement in how this information is presentedupdated 13:25

Open coast (Tauroa Point to Whangape) — solo, off the rocks

DON'T GO

don't go · wave 1.6 m (occasionally up to ~3.2 m)

wave 1.6 m head-onwind 11, gusts 29 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~2 m

today, best window 18:00–21:00

fish · Visibility 2 m · Water 16.4°C

confidence medium · verdict for the selected day

Whole week — tap a day. is driving swell right now.

Solo risk: carry a float · tell someone your plan and exit time · doubt = don't go. A model-based planner; the call is made on site.

Selected day

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

The day is picked above, in the hero. Here are that day's windows, the hour-by-hour map and the trends. Tap a window to break down the conditions.

Sunday · today2026-10-25

06:33–19:50 · full moon

▼ 03:00▲ 09:00▼ 15:00▲ 21:00mid-range tides · 2.6 m

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide0.80 m

Wave1.66 m

Wind2 km/h

Water16 °C

fish activity: moon overhead 00:00 · high · moonset 05:30 · moderate · moon underfoot 12:10 · high · moonrise 18:52 · moderate

Conditions window15:00–18:00

don't go fish

Hs 1.54 m · roughperiod 14.1 s head-onwind 12→31surge 18.2viz 2 m

1.54 mrough · up to ~3.08 · 219° head-on

14.1 sswell building

12→31gusts 31 km/h

18.2pounding the rocks

0.36m/s

2 mrecent swell

16.3°C5 mm + hood

▲21:00tide turn near

Atmosphere42 kmlandmarks visible

lowoff the lunar peaks

wave 1.5 m (occasionally up to ~3.1 m)
long powerful swell (14 s) straight onto the shore
first hours of the flood — fish moving in

confidence mediumday

Open the seafloor map with entry points

More spots

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Where to get in
off the rocks.

Scouted entries, coloured by today. The colour is the sea state at the spot, not a guarantee: the wash and a slippery entry you judge on site.

Open the seafloor map

Koekoe Point (Whangape South)Open coast (Tauroa Point to Whangape)

dangerous

Pro · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: no data (coarse grid)

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Tauroa Point (Reef Point)Open coast (Tauroa Point to Whangape)

dangerous

Legal notice: Te Tauroa temporary closure: you must not take pāua (blackfoot or yellowfoot) within 2 km of the shore from Te Huahua / Iron Gate round Tauroa Point to Hunahuna Stream. · 2026-10-15 – 2028-10-14 (Pacific/Auckland) · Scope: pāua; waters ≤2 km off the Tauroa Peninsula coast, Te Huahua / Iron Gate – Hunahuna Stream · Fisheries (Te Tauroa Temporary Closure) Notice 2026 (MPI 2033), cl 5, s 186A Fisheries Act 1996 (as of 2026-09-26)

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: no data (coarse grid)

Rocky Ahipara headland with cray holes and snapper; big open Tasman swell, dive the calm.

Google Maps

Tauroa Point South LedgesOpen coast (Tauroa Point to Whangape)

dangerous

Pro · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: no data (coarse grid)

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Shipwreck Bay ReefBay (Shipwreck Bay)

dangerous

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: no data (coarse grid)

Boulder reef at the south end of Ninety Mile Beach; butterfish and cray in the kelp on settled west-swell days.

Google Maps

Te Kōhanga (Shipwreck Bay Ledge)Bay (Shipwreck Bay)

dangerous

Ultra · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: no data (coarse grid)

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

SOLO is the biggest risk: underwater you can black out from lack of oxygen silently and fatally, with no one around. Solo is never truly «safe». Below are the best weather windows; carry a buoy, tell someone your plan and exit time, and any doubt — don't go.

What's in season,
what the law says.

Rules as of now — 25.10.2026 16:46 (Pacific/Auckland)

In season now

snapper (tāmure)
Chrysophrys auratus · 3–40 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
min 27 cm · bag 10 a day · inside the combined limit 20 · East coast (SNA 1): 7 a day, min 30 cm. Auckland west coast (Kaipara/Manukau): 10 a day, min 27 cm. Inside the combined 20-finfish limit.
trevally (araara)
Pseudocaranx georgianus · 3–30 m · legal
min 25 cm · inside the combined limit 20
kahawai
Arripis trutta · 0–20 m · legal
no minimum size · inside the combined limit 20
John Dory (kuparu)
Zeus faber · 5–40 m · legal
no minimum size · inside the combined limit 20
porae
Nemadactylus douglasii · 10–50 m · legal
no minimum size · inside the combined limit 20
red moki (nanua)
Cheilodactylus spectabilis · 3–25 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
min 40 cm · inside the combined limit 20
red / spiny rock lobster (kōura)
Jasus edwardsii · 3–30 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
tail width ≥ 54 mm (♀ 60 mm) · bag 2 a day · 🚫 no spear · 🚫 possessing a speared one is an offence · ✋ by hand or hand-operated loop (spring-loaded loops banned) · 🚫 CLOSED from Pārengarenga Harbour to Cape Rodney (since 1 April 2026) and from Cape Rodney to Port Jackson (since 1 April 2025) — that is most of the Northland east coast and the Hauraki Gulf. Outside the closures: CRA 1 (Kaipara North Head – Te Arai Point) 2 a day, CRA 2 (Te Arai Point – East Cape) 3 a day. · Measure tail WIDTH: male 54 mm, female 60 mm; berried, soft-shell and unmeasurable ones go straight back. (Fisheries (Amateur Fishing) Regulations 2013, reg. 29(2), reg. 46; MPI 7281.)
kina (sea urchin)
Evechinus chloroticus · 1–15 m · legal
no minimum size · bag 50 a day · ⚠️ Before taking any shellfish check the NZ Food Safety biotoxin warnings — they change constantly and are separate from the fishing rules.
parore (luderick)
Girella tricuspidata · 0–15 m · legal
no minimum size · inside the combined limit 20
packhorse rock lobster (kōura papatea)
Sagmariasus verreauxi · 5–40 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
tail width ≥ 84 mm (♀ 90 mm) · bag 3 a day · 🚫 no spear · 🚫 possessing a speared one is an offence · ✋ by hand or hand-operated loop (spring-loaded loops banned) · Tail width: male 84 mm, female 90 mm. Packhorse stays open where spiny lobster is closed, but it is a DIFFERENT species and a much larger legal size. · Measure tail WIDTH: male 54 mm, female 60 mm; berried, soft-shell and unmeasurable ones go straight back. (Fisheries (Amateur Fishing) Regulations 2013, reg. 29(2), reg. 46; MPI 7281.)
leatherjacket (kōkiri)
Meuschenia scaber · 3–30 m · legal
no minimum size · inside the combined limit 20
butterfish / greenbone (marari)
Odax pullus · 2–20 m · legal
min 35 cm · inside the combined limit 20
green-lipped mussel (kūtai)
Perna canaliculus · 0–15 m · legal
no minimum size · bag 50 a day · ⚠️ Before taking any shellfish check the NZ Food Safety biotoxin warnings — they change constantly and are separate from the fishing rules.
garfish / piper
Hyporhamphus ihi · 0–3 m · legal
no minimum size · bag 50 a day

off season: pāua (blackfoot abalone) () · scallop (tipa) () · spotted black grouper ()

Law

✓There is no in New Zealand: MPI states plainly that you do not need one to fish in the sea — only fresh water needs a licence. The rules are REGIONAL, though: MPI divides the country into seven fishing areas with their own sizes and limits, and the Kaikōura Marine Area has rules of its own on top. Buying, selling or swapping recreationally caught seafood is an offence under the Fisheries Act 1996.
✓Three species may not be taken with a SPEAR anywhere in the country: rock lobster, salmon and trout. For rock lobster it is an express rule — using a spear to take one, and possessing a speared lobster, are both prohibited, with a fine up to NZ$10,000 (Fisheries (Amateur Fishing) Regulations 2013, reg. 29(2)). Salmon and trout are freshwater sports fish managed by Fish & Game.
✓AN IMPORTANT CORRECTION to a common belief: no nationwide scuba ban for spearfishing was found in the MPI rules. The only breathing-apparatus prohibition is for PĀUA: it may be neither taken nor possessed while you have apparatus, even if the tank is merely in the car or on the boat (Fisheries (Amateur Fishing) Regulations 2013, reg. 48). A snorkel is not apparatus, and what forbids rock lobster is the SPEAR, not the tank. An absence of prohibition is not a permission: ask MPI before you go.
✓: MPI describes spearfishing as catching fish with rubber-powered spearguns and slings or compressed-gas pneumatic spearguns, and its rules say neither yes nor no about or explosive tips. Treat the question as UNRESOLVED and do not carry a as permitted gear. No time-of-day restriction was found in the MPI rules or in the Fisheries (Amateur Fishing) Regulations 2013.
✓How to measure and where to check: a finfish is measured from the tip of the nose to the end of the middle ray of the tail fin — the 'V' of the tail, not its tips (Fisheries (Amateur Fishing) Regulations 2013). Rock lobster is measured by tail WIDTH; pāua along the flat face of the shell in a straight line, not over the curve. Rules change often: MPI asks you to check them each time before you go fishing, for example in the NZ Fishing Rules app. Poaching: 0800 4 POACHER.
✓Auckland & Kermadec: combined finfish daily limit 20. Snapper 7 at 30 cm on the east coast (SNA 1) and 10 at 27 cm on the west (Kaipara/Manukau). Kingfish 3 at 75 cm, trevally min 25 cm, red moki min 40 cm. Kina 150 in

Safety protocol

Sets: watch the wave trains ≥15 min before entering; Hmax ≈ 2×Hs, the wash can run 50 m past the foam line. A lull >10 min with period >12 s = a big set «overdue», do NOT enter; enter right after a full set passes and re-check at minute 30.
Exit FIRST: find your exit AND a backup before entering. On a rocky/boulder shore a 0.5 m rise in swell can make the exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer.
Headland rip: prominent points often have a permanent topographic rip regardless of the model — locate it, enter/exit on the windward side, never swim against it.
Cold: wetsuit per the SST chip; the first shiver = a metabolic surge and a drop in breath-hold → get out at the first steady shiver. Cap the session at 45–60 min below 15 °C.
Solo discipline: buoy up; tell someone the spot and exit time; conservative breath-hold (never push it in cold/murky/surfy water); visibility <3 m — don't enter.
Afternoon wind: on many coasts the wind builds from midday — plan to be out of the water by midday; the chop builds — get out.
UV 11:00–15:00 (UVI ≥6): sunscreen and cover up on the surface interval.
Solo is a fundamental risk (hypoxic blackout with no buddy). Any doubt = No-go.

Spearfishing in Ahipara: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-10-04 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Spearfishing at Ahipara is a calm-window plan. The coast faces west, and any wind or swell from 210° round to 330° runs straight onto the reefs at the south end of Ninety Mile Beach. When a settled spell lands, the two free marks on this page, Shipwreck Bay Reef and the rocky Ahipara headland at Tauroa Point, hold snapper, butterfish and crayfish in the kelp. The forecast on this page gives the wind and swell call. Check the Fisheries New Zealand (MPI) rules before you go, including the dated Te Tauroa pāua closure.

TL;DR

Ahipara sits at the southern tip of Ninety Mile Beach on the Far North's Tasman (west) coast, and big open-ocean west swell decides every dive.

Two free marks are mapped here: Shipwreck Bay Reef and Tauroa Point (Reef Point), boulder and kelp ground that works only on settled west-swell days.

From 15 October 2026 to 14 October 2028 the Te Tauroa temporary closure means you must not take pāua within 2 km of the shore from Te Huahua / Iron Gate round Tauroa Point to Hunahuna Stream.

New Zealand needs no recreational sea licence, but taking pāua on scuba is banned nationwide, so pāua is free-dive only; crayfish are taken only by hand or a hand-held loop, never speared.

Where can you dive around Ahipara?

Both marks sit on the exposed west coast. Their depths are single map readings that nobody has verified in the water, so treat them as a guide and confirm the exit from the beach.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
Shipwreck Bay Reef	Boulder reef with kelp	about 5 m (unverified)	Calm-day dive; west swell shuts it	Verify a shore exit locally before you commit	At the south end of Ninety Mile Beach. Butterfish and cray hold in the kelp on settled west-swell days.
Tauroa Point (Reef Point)	Rocky headland	about 6 m (unverified)	Experienced divers, calm days only	Verify a shore exit locally before you commit	Cray holes and snapper on the Ahipara headland, open to big Tasman swell. It lies inside the Te Tauroa pāua closure band from 15 October 2026.

Surface

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

Spots in New Zealand

🇳🇿New Zealand

Northland

Help us make it better

The water column

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The seabed

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

Surfacing

What's in season,
what the law says.

Spearfishing in Ahipara: spots, seasons and rules

TL;DR

Where can you dive around Ahipara?

Auckland & Hauraki Gulf

When is Ahipara calm enough to dive?

What can you hunt at Ahipara?

Which rules are specific to Ahipara?

Where are the nearest other mapped spots?

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

Ahipara spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

Windows, hours and the day's trends.

Get the go / no-go verdict for Ahipara by email

Spots in New Zealand

🇳🇿New Zealand

Northland

Help us make it better

A marine instrument, go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.The call is on the rock.

Where to get in off the rocks.

What's in season, what the law says.

TL;DR

Where can you dive around Ahipara?

Auckland & Hauraki Gulf

When is Ahipara calm enough to dive?

What can you hunt at Ahipara?

Which rules are specific to Ahipara?

Where are the nearest other mapped spots?

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

What's in season,
what the law says.