The marine environment faced several threats, most crucially the incursion over the past year of the Mediterranean fan worm, which had been reseeding in the region after taking hold in Auckland Harbour.
"It's an enormously serious problem," he said.
The fan worms infest large areas of the sea floor, creating a monoculture and modifying habitats so they trap more sediment and damage nursery grounds for important local fish.
"Importantly for this region, if you do have a hot spot of infestation the threat to our burgeoning aquaculture industry is very serious," said Dr Battershill.
To date an ongoing biosecurity operation mounted by the marine research institute, Niwa and the regional council, was keeping the infestation under control, he said.
But the danger of reinfestation, especially from recreational craft out of Auckland, was high.
Sedimentation of the harbour as a result of agricultural runoff and warmer temperatures had also long been a problem, he said.
"But that is being addressed and my feeling is we've turned a corner.
"We are one of the few harbour systems in the country that remains sandy and relatively mud free."
Increasing public transport was a concern for survey respondents, but Tauranga, in common with many smaller cities worldwide, faces the problem of having too small a population to sustain a profitable public transport system, meaning it must inevitably be subsidised.
Tauranga City Council manager, transportation, Martin Parkes, said a review of the public transport network was under way with the regional council.
"We'll be looking not just at the type of service, but the infrastructure to potentially provide a better quality of service to the people using it," he said.
That could include options such as using improved technology to improve bus stop information about arrival times.
The councils were also doing a huge amount of work to encourage alternative means of transportation, he said, including the long-term goal of completing 10 cycle and walking routes across the city.
Parkes noted that local authorities and the NZ Transport Authority had invested a huge amount of money over the past 25 years in building a really efficient road network in the Western Bay, so that it was very easy to drive anywhere by private transport.
"We've done great things from a roading perspective," said Mr Parkes.
"But from the bigger transportation picture, we need to get a bit more balance in the infrastructure and how it's used."
Sustainability, the third key priority identified by survey respondents, was a growing concern for local people, said Mary Dillon, who chairs Envirohub, the trading name of the Tauranga Environment Centre Charitable Trust.
The trust has core operational funding from the Ministry for the Environment and receives specific project funding, contracts and grants from a range of local authorities and funding bodies.
"There are needs across the board, but the big interests at the moment for families and communities are things like sustainable gardens, organic fertilisers and increasing energy efficiency.
"It's not just about saving money - people are becoming increasingly aware of their impact on the environment."
Ms Dillon said there was a need to build a network of environmental consciousness across the region among the different groups.
"Business has a voice," she said.
"We have to ensure that the environment has a voice.
"A lot of change can come from the community itself. If that voice gets big enough, governments and local authorities start to listen."
