Enhancing communication and safety on the waterways are among the aims of a full-scale multi-agency search and rescue exercise to take place in Queenstown on Saturday.
The exercise is codenamed "Moana".
It will stage several marine incidents.
The incidents will be designed to test the standard operating procedures of search and rescue agencies working together in response to a marine emergency.
Coastguard Queenstown and Clyde units will co-ordinate with the Wanaka Marine Search and Rescue Unit, Land Search and Rescue and the New Zealand Police.
Exercise controller Mark Whitehouse outlined the goals of the exercise in a statement last week.
These were, to understand how to work together, to maintain operational readiness and to increase inter-agency operability.
"A live exercise like this helps us to identify any areas where we could be working harder to improve our communication processes and increase safety on our waters, especially when we are working alongside other rescue operators," Mr Whitehouse said.
It helped agencies cope under pressure, he said.
It also gave agencies the hands-on experience to understand and prepare for real marine rescues, Mr Whitehouse said.
