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National

Crown fisheries management fails to see impending disaster - iwi

Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parke has announced that scallop fisheries in Northland and most of the Coromandel will close from April 1 to allow the population to recover.

However, Hauturu, Little Barrier Island, and the Colville channel area remain open to scallop fishers, which is concerning local iwi and sustainable fishing advocates, who say commercial fishers will now focus on and overfish those areas.

Ngāti Hei kaumatua Joe Davis led a movement to protect scallops along the eastern Coromandel last year.

Davis and ocean advocacy group Legasea spokesperson Sam Woolford expressed their concern to Te Ao Tapatahi today, hoping that their message is heard by Parker.

NIWA reports say scallop numbers are plummeting but that isn’t news to Davis as he says mana whenua noticed the decline seven years ago. “We weren’t getting the scallop wash-ups like we used to.”

Even though the banning of scallop gathering is considered a great initiative, Davis is perplexed as to what the Crown is thinking about allowing the Hauturu, Little Barrier Island, and Colville channel areas to remain open for fishing. “I don’t know what advice he was getting from his Crown research institutes”

“They have left taonga out of the picture.”

Woolford said there is little sign of recovery areas of New Zealand scallop beds along with other species.

“In the past 10 years, populations in the Hauraki Gulf have declined from 776 tonnes to 52. it doesn’t add up.”