Two Southlanders will join the crew of the Royal New Zealand Navy in-shore patrol vessel HMNZS Hawea to patrol Fiordland this week.
Environment Southland compliance officer Aurora Grant will carry out compliance checks on moorings and other structures, and talk to commercial users who have consents to operate in the sounds.
Emergency Management Southland adviser Craig Sinclair will gather information for the Fiordland Emergency Response Plan.
They will be picked up from Bluff today and taken by inflatable boat to the Hawea before heading to Fiordland for six days.
Environment Southland deputy harbourmaster Lyndon Cleaver said this was the third time the navy had worked with them and the first time using the Hawea.
''It's such a remote area and it's difficult to get in there so we like to explore every opportunity that comes along, and this was one of them."
Mr Sinclair said he would be looking at the resources available and the best locations for setting up safe points and communications equipment in the event of a major natural disaster such as an earthquake or tsunami, or an emergency involving a cruise ship.
