Holidaymakers and commercial boats have looked for scallops delicacy in the seabed. After this event has occurred, Oceans and Fisheries Minister, David Parker, has ordered the closure of most of all the scallop fisheries in Coromandel and Northland.
Starting April 1, only two neighbourhoods within Hauturu/Little Barrier Island and Colville Channel are going to stay operational provided certain restrictions are complied with. Parker sees the decreasing numbers of scallop populations as a troublesome situation. Parker shares those strict terms and conditions are necessary in order for the fisheries to be restored in stock.
Certain locally based leaders give support to the closures. According to them, the closures can be important sources for adding supplies of stocks. However, local iwi and lobby organization Legasea defend that the situation is not enough to make amends.
Parker says taking away fishing pressure is a significant and urgent task to complete that can generate a positive influence on the implementation of continuous sustainability. There is more than one situation that does its share in influencing the continuous decrease in the numbers of scallops produced, which includes sedimentation, dredging, and the utilization of GPS technological tools to source out and do exploitation of scallop beds.
According to a NIWA report distributed in February, the numbers of Hauraki Gulf scallop numbers have dipped to 93 percent in the past 10 years. On the other hand, the quantities of the scallop beds in the east coast part of Northland have dipped to 63 percent in the past 13 years.
The said closures comply with the 50 percent decrease in the total numbers of permissible catch species in the Coromandel scallop fishery stocks in 2016. The commercial catch species for the numbers of Northland scallop fishery has been lessened by 75 percent in 2020.
Murray McLean, Thames-Coromandel deputy mayor, is a councillor for Mercury Bay Ward. According to McLean, he is in support of the said closure of operations to have the opportunity to protect the safety of the scallop beds.
According to McLean, it is essential to farm the fisheries for the upcoming future breeds. McLean further states that if closing the fisheries is necessary to give them chance to recover, then, closure is the only option that’s available. McLean shares that the same concept of principle is utilized in any elements that are sea harvested.
The future generation’s populations are going to benefit from such preservation.
