A long-running dispute over commercial boats passing through the Hole in the Rock is expected to flare up again in coming weeks.
Passing through a natural hole in Motukokako Island, just off the tip of Cape Brett, is the highlight of many tourist boat trips in the Bay of Islands.
But the island's owner, the Motu Kokako Ahuwhenua Trust, believes tourism operators should pay a fee to pass through the hole, in the same way tourism companies pay a concession to cross private or conservation land.
The High Court has previously ruled against the trust because maritime law states that access to the open sea cannot be impeded.
However, the trust has not given up and today intends to meet representatives of the the Bay's main tourism companies to inform them of plans for a direct action protest campaign this summer.