Sediment macrobenthos of the Upper Otago Harbour, south‐eastern New Zealand, was surveyed in 1993. Replicate samples (0.1 m 2 sieved on 1 ‐mm mesh) were taken using a diver‐operated suction sampler from 15 stations, including some suspected to be contaminated. Multivariate analysis of abundance data was used to examine patterns of benthic community structure and their relationship to environmental variables: sediment grain siz...