Calls for scallop beds to close after 'destructive' fishing sees population plummet

Friday, 25 March 2022

Advocacy groups are calling for scallop (tipa) beds to close after “destructive” fishing techniques caused a drastic decline in numbers.

A new report from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) shows Hauraki Gulf scallop numbers have plummeted 93 per cent in the last 10 years, while numbers at Northland’s East Coast scallop beds have fallen 63 per cent over 13 years.

According to marine advocacy group LegaSea, destructive fishing techniques such as dredging, alongside a quota allowance that didn’t work, had left the scallop population on the brink of collapse.

A Niwa report shows a massive decline in scallop numbers in the Hauraki Gulf and Northland. (File photo)

If things continued the way they were then the scallop populations would be reduced to nothing, LegaSea spokesperson Sam Woolford said.

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Advocacy groups are calling for an end to dredging and a re-jig of the quota management system. (File photo)

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“I don’t see any other option [other than the scallop beds having to close]. After years of mismanagement every scallop counts right now.”

The population dive would mean economic, social, and cultural losses for coastal communities, he said.

Tipa (scallops) in the Hauraki Gulf are protected under a two-year temporary rāhui, or ritual ban, which was recognised by the Government in 2021.

Along with other conservation groups, including the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and GreenPeace, LegaSea is calling for the removal of all mobile bottom-contact fishing methods from the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park and a reduction in commercial catch allocations.

Under the Quota Management System, commercial operators in the ‘SCA CS’ area, which encompasses the Hauraki Gulf and the Western Bay of Plenty, have a 50-tonne allowance. They are currently only catching just over 50 per cent of what they are allocated, according to the report.

LegaSea said the system needed to be looked at as it was allowing a take far bigger than the scallop population could handle.

The report showed the issues were clearly not isolated, Ngāti Manuhiri spokesperson Mook Honneck said.

“It’s occurring in rohe moana (sea areas) up and down the coast”.

Hauraki Gulf scallop biomass had dropped from 776 tonnes in 2012 to an estimated 52 tonnes, according to the NIWA report.

Ngati Manuhiri laid down a rāhui on scallops in the Northern Hauraki Gulf earlier this year.

The situation was even worse than expected, New Zealand Sport Fishing Council president Bob Gutsell said.

“These figures show the sobering consequences of ongoing mismanagement under the Quota Management System and underscores the need for the community to support the various scallop rāhui laid around the Hauraki Gulf.”

A spokesperson for Minister for Oceans and Fisheries David Parker said it was clear more needed to be done.

Based on recent survey information, as well as iwi and community concern, the Northland, Auckland, and Coromandel scallop fisheries had been a focus in Fisheries New Zealand’s recent sustainability review, they said.

An announcement from Parker on the management of these fisheries is expected next week.