The Gulf, its islands, and catchments have complex interrelationships that need to be well understood and managed. Many improvements have been made in the administration of statutory jurisdictions in the Gulf, the exercise of individual and collective responsibility, and stewardship of the Gulf. But the need for co-operation, and the need for integrated management, recognised in the establishment by local authorities of the Hauraki Gulf Forum, by Auckland City of “Vision Hauraki”
, by tangata whenua in the Motutapu Accord, and by the Government in establishing in 1967 the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park, still remains. The Gulf must be managed in a manner that crosses territorial jurisdictions, crosses land and water boundaries, and crosses cultures and that respects both conservation and development needs.