Tomahawk Beach

Sand is extracted from the Tomahawk Lagoon channel, which runs across the beach, for commercial purposes and to prevent flooding.

At very low tides the base of the promontory is exposed, making Tomahawk and Smaills effectively a single beach.

[5] Northward, the beach rises into scrub-covered dunes and a steep slope leading up to the suburb of Ocean Grove.

The Dunedin City Council is addressing this concern by an ongoing programme of contouring and revegetation, through a memorandum of understanding with the Tomahawk Smaills Beachcare Trust.

[4][9] At the western end of the beach the water is periodically found to be polluted[10] from the outfall of the nearby Tahuna wastewater treatment plant.

[15][16] Sand is extracted in small quantities from the Tomahawk Lagoon outlet under permit from the Otago Regional Council.