Te Rūnanga o Moeraki upoko David Higgins said the runanga’s request for a temporary closure of the fishery near Moeraki would prohibit the ‘‘gutting’’ of shellfish after a ‘‘substantial’’ amount of tuaki (cockles; also called clams) had been ripped from the shoreline of the small coastal village by ‘‘new immigrants’’.
The closure would prohibit taking all shellfish including crustaceans from Kaihīnaki (Moeraki Boulders) to the western end of Onekakara (Moeraki harbour beach) an area of about 1.3sqkm along Moeraki Beach.
Fisheries New Zealand is now seeking public feedback on the request for the temporary closure.
Mr Higgins said despite declaring a rāhui before Christmas the issue has flared up again on the coastline this year.
‘‘Locals were very vigilant because that’s our little favoured place and we don’t flog it to death, so we watched it carefully.
‘‘Our guys, the tāngata tiaki (guardians) spotted these family groups down there gathering cockles in large numbers ... [the cockles] were very small, you wouldn’t eat them.’’
‘‘One particular group of new immigrants found the cockle beds, and started harvesting those cockle beds, taking cockles as small as 10mm which is pretty small — they started removing those cockles with shovels, which is a real no-no for us,’’ he said.
He said the removal of this stock from the environment hindered the recovery of the cockle beds, which would struggle due to the removal of the ‘‘brood stock’’, one of multiple pressures the shellfish faced, including pollution.
The introduction over the last 20 to 30 years of a sewerage scheme in the coastal village had reduced the issue of pollution in the port area and cockle population ‘‘had picked up’’.
‘‘The locals left them alone knowing full well that time would tell if those cockle beds recovered.’’
Mr Higgins estimated it was ‘‘hundreds’’ of cockles that had been seized from the rock pools.
He said earlier this year a ‘‘similar cultural group’’ were seen taking cockles in an area near Moeraki Hall on the beach referred to as ‘‘The Baths’’ despite signage placed by the Ministry of Fisheries compliance team prohibiting their removal in the area.
‘‘The tāngata tiaki have taken photographs of a substantial amount of people taking cockles,’’ he said.
Mr Higgins did not specify which cultural group was involved in harvesting kaimoana as he said there was an ‘‘ongoing investigation by the Ministry of Fisheries compliance team’’.
He said the situation was not dissimilar to the North Island where the government is imposing a two-year ban on taking shellfish from rockpools north of Auckland.
In relation to that matter, Oceans and Fisheries minister Shane Jones told RNZ while some migrant communities were either not aware of the ‘‘host culture’’, others were ‘‘exploiting and collapsing ecosystems’’.
Fisheries New Zealand (FNZ) fisheries management director Emma Taylor said the closure request was made by the runanga last year.
The proposed closure would also include waters out to 500m offshore.
‘‘Te Rūnanga o Moeraki have been monitoring their rohe moana for many years, and they report that tuaki and other shellfish species are depleted in the area.
‘‘FNZ’s remit is to provide for the sustainable utilisation of fishery resources for commercial, recreational and customary fishers,’’ she said.
Ms Taylor said tuaki have a recreational daily limit of 150 per person in the area and the closure, which would prohibit the taking of all shellfish for two years, was under consultation.
The consultation runs until April 20.
