The maritime exclusion zone around Whakaari/White Island will be lifted on Friday as the search for the final two bodies enters its next phase.
The area ran for five nautical miles (9.26km) around the island, which gave police space for safe dive searches.
Bay of Plenty harbourmaster Peter Buell told Newshub although the zone was important, the time has come to remove it.
"That allowed the police and the navy to safely carry out their operations. Those are going to be concluding, so the exclusion zone is no longer needed."
Police confirmed on Wednesday they will be scaling down dive searches, which Buell explained meant the exclusion zone no longer had a purpose.
Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Clement said they will have to wait for Mother Nature to produce the two bodies still missing - Winona Langford and Hayden Inman.
He believes the tide could be taking them towards East Cape.
Buell said the zone will be lifted at about 6pm on Friday.
The Bay of Plenty locals surprised police with their compliance during the exclusion period, he added, and there were no instances where anyone gave them any concerns.
"They just turned around and left immediately."
He said the zone marks a decisive end to this part of the search.
Sixteen people died in the eruption. Fourteen people remain in New Zealand hospitals and 13 have been repatriated to Australian hospitals.
