Tauranga Harbour beaches are set for one final pre-Christmas clean-up as Tauranga City contractors aim to rid the area of sea lettuce before the holiday period.

This week Fulton Hogan Limited contractors gave Kulim Park beach a remedial makeover, replacing 80 m3 of the green sludge with 100 m3 of new sand.

Tauranga City Council contractors picking up sea lettuce.

Tauranga City Council parks coordinator Craig Fea says the work is part of the contractors consented sea wall upgrade work in the Matua area.

In preparation for the upgrades, about 40 people congregated along the Matua shoreline on Saturday morning to help restore rocks and stones that have been washed out from the seawalls along the Tauranga Harbour.

Matua Residents Association chairman Richard Kluit says it the work was very successful, with the groups working between the Fergusson Park boat ramp and the reserve at the bottom of Otumoetai Rd for about two-and-a-half hours.

'It was all about picking up the rocks and putting them back on the walls so the machinery can get along the shore. We have a contractor with a front end loader handling the bigger rocks and spreading some of the worst areas, so it can wash away with the tide.”

Craig says there is likely to be at least one more pick up before Christmas with TCC closely monitoring the level of sea lettuce in the coming weeks.

The raft of clean-ups follows 360 tonnes of sea lettuce collected from between Fergusson Park and Kulim Park on three separate occasions so far this summer – averaging 120 tonnes.

Richard admits the Matua shoreline is currently 'not as bad as recent summers” because of last week's recent westerly winds but says work still needs to be done to achieve a smaller amount of sea lettuce.

'The bad areas are particularly bad, and the smelly areas are in front of the stormwater pipes because it's constantly wet; that is an area Tauranga City Council needs to look at.”

Richard says it is pleasing to see people taking pride in their community and its natural amenities, by 'getting out and helping keep it attractive”.