Source: Radio New Zealand
People harvesting sea life at Army Bay. Protect Whangaparoa Rockpools
Residents on Auckland’s west coast fear their beloved beaches will become the next hotspot for rock pool harvesting.
The government has imposed a two-year ban on taking shellfish and seaweed from rockpools along the Whangaparāoa Peninsula, and further north at Kawau Bay and Ōmaha Bay on Auckland’s east coast, from 12 March 2026.
The Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust applied for the ban under section 186A of the Fisheries Act, which all iwi could do for their rohe.
The iwi’s chief executive, Nicola MacDonald, earlier told RNZ that as the population had grown, the amount of harvesting being done had become unsustainable, and the coastline desperately needed a break.
Luella Bartlett from the community group Protect Piha Rockpools said that rockpools in Piha, as well as Muriwai, Te Henga, and Whatipu, would be stripped bare if more people started combing those beaches due to the East Coast ban.
“I’m so happy for them [Ngāti Manuhiri and the Whangaparāoa community] because they’ve worked hard for it, they desperately needed it, but unfortunately, it hasn’t gone far enough, and the biggest issue is seeing movement into other areas.”
Bartlett, who had lived in Piha for 20 years, said locals had been concerned about the amount of marine life being taken there for decades.
“This has been a long-term problem. The difference now is back then it was green-limped mussels, now it’s anemones, starfish, crabs, seaweed, absolutely everything being yanked off the rocks,” Bartlett said.
“It’s 100 percent legal right now. You can take up to 50 things per person.”
Currently, recreational harvesters can collect up to 50 cockles, 150 sea urchins, 25 green-lipped mussels, 50 pipi, and 50 of any other shellfish a day.
Bartlett wanted the government to make all intertidal zones, the area between high and low tide, a “no-take zone”.
She recently met with two NZ First MPs, Under Secretary for Oceans and Fisheries Jenny Marcroft and David Wilson, and Fisheries Officials at Maukatia Bay to discuss her concerns.
“They are actively wanting to make sure that displacement from one beach to another does not happen.”
Protect Piha Rockpools founder Luella Bartlett (second from right) with NZ First MPs, Under Secretary for Oceans and Fisheries Jenny Marcroft and David Wilson, and Fisheries Officials at Maukatia Bay. Supplied
Bartlet said people harvesting at West Coast beaches was also a safety risk for those unfamiliar with the notoriously dangerous surf.
“On the West Coast, it’s a lot rougher. We’re going to see a lot more rescues and potentially, a lot more deaths as well as major damage to our ecosystem, which we’re already seeing damage to.”
While speaking about rockpool harvesting during question time this week, Fisheries Minister Shane Jones’ comments about Asian Communities resulted in boos from other MPs in the House.
Bartlett did not think the minister’s approach was helpful.
“We’re [Protect Piha Rockpools] focused on the legislation, not race or culture, because this is happening across cultures and it has been happening for a long time, 40-odd years. It’s not helpful when we’re trying to get legislation changed when it keeps being diverted back to race.”
University of Auckland marine scientist Professor Andrew Jeffs said it was great that the government had recognised there was a problem with the amount of harvesting around Whangaparāoa.
But he agreed the activity would be displaced to other vulnerable areas.
“I was out on the West Coast in Auckland last weekend, and on a reef which I previously haven’t seen many people collecting shellfish off, I counted about 30 people there with buckets and tools taking stuff off the rocks.”
He said he had observed an increase in people beach-combing at one popular West Coast spot in recent years. He did not want to name the beach for fear it would encourage more gathering there.
“I suspect it’s because people have discovered that there’s good stuff to be had there, and word is getting around, and so people are taking it.
“I’ve seen that happen in other areas. There was an area of sea cucumbers, what we call a hotspot of sea cucumbers, in the harbour that we were studying and over the period of about two and a half years. Initially, one person started harvesting, and then we gradually saw more people coming, and there’s now no sea cucumbers in that place anymore, they’re all gone.”
In 1993, a rāhui was placed on Karekare beach by the local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki, with support from the community as a method of protecting dwindling shellfish stock and the marine ecology of the area.
Te Kawerau ā Maki, has been contacted by RNZ for comment and is yet to confirm whether they plan to apply for a temporary ban.
Shane Jones and Jenny Marcroft have been contacted for comment.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
