Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer Max Mason says marine and tourism operators are not specifically looking for a government bailout.

The chamber is working with the Ministry of Social Development to produce an assistance package for businesses affected by the grounding of Rena on Astrolabe Reef.

Max met with business owners this week to gauge the impact the stricken and oil leaking container ship is having on them and expects to complete his report today.

'What is emerging from our discussions with these industries is that it is not just about a financial package,” says Max.

'It is about how all the different departments of government can allow the operators to ease their cashflow and how they can operationally get out there and do their business.”

'These people are not necessarily looking for financial support, they just really want to get on with their business and get back into operation.”

Max says the Rena grounding is directly impacting dolphin encounter businesses, surf schools, dive boats and charter boats.

He says the commercial and recreational fishing industry are also immediately affected with crayfish operators and crab fishers not being able to fish in Bay of Plenty waters, and recreational fishers unable to fish in the harbour and surrounding Tauranga waters.

'There are huge amounts of recreational boating activity in Tauranga, so there is an industry around that, like bait suppliers and fishing clubs which are dependent on that income.”

Max says fishers are concerned about the practical side of their operations with two of the key concerns being: the 45km exclusion zone around the Rena wreck on Astrolabe Reef, and loss of the ship's cargo into the ocean.

'They want to know how soon it will be until Maritime New Zealand can shrink the exclusion zone.”

Since the Rena ran aground 17 days ago, 88 containers have fallen from the ship, 35 containers are tied to buoys, 16 of which have sunk, nine have washed up on Motiti Island, seven have washed up on White Island and seven have washed up on other beaches.

Max says fishers are concerned about the damage the containers can do to their fishing lines and nets and the potential safety hazard they pose to boating and shipping lanes.

'Paying employees is another issue, and whether they should or shouldn't be accepting bookings.”

Max is advising businesses to tell potential customers they are open for business, but to explain it will be dependent on how Rena's situation develops in the next week.

Max says the government is looking at all angles to assist businesses, including how the Department of Inland Revenue can contribute, by being lenient to businesses when it comes to provisional tax and GST.

'There are lots of things the government ministries can do to help – it's a whole package of things.”

The chamber is also creating its own package of business programmes to provide marketing direction and financial forecast advice.

'We are giving advice on how best go to their bank and how to develop cashflow forecasts to show their bank how they are going to be impacted.”