Are Scallops Permanently off the Menu?

Under the Quota Management System (QMS) these two areas are the last remaining areas where scallops can be commercially harvested. Closures of these last two areas will make the scallops the first nationwide fishery to be wholly shut down due to greed and destruction under the QMS. 

We need to acknowledge that the QMS is simply not working. An entire species is in line to be wiped out. The only way to restore coastal fish populations is to reduce the amount harvested and make destructive fishing techniques illegal. 

The evidence is in a new NIWA report showing Hauraki Gulf scallop biomass (average weight of scallops over a given area) has plummeted 93 per cent in the last ten years to just 52 tonnes left. Northland’s East Coast scallop beds have also fallen 63 per cent over 13 years, to 64 tonnes.

Areas once abundant with scallops such as Spirits and Tom Bowling Bay have decreased in biomass by 96%.

After years of inaction, with irrefutable figures like the above, it’s likely Fisheries NZ (FNZ) will close both scallop fisheries for up to three years – a move we fully support. For FNZ, it may be another day in the office, but for coastal communities this action will result in economic, social, and cultural losses.

The key factors causing the decline in scallops are threefold. 
1.    Overallocation of catch allowances. We are harvesting too many scallops. 
2.    Ongoing use of scallop dredges. This destructive fishing technique smashes anything it doesn't catch and destroys the seafloor making it inhabitable for scallop spat to settle. 
3.    As seen in areas such as the Marlborough Sounds, land-based pollution or runoff also plays a part.

Scallop shots, along with all other scallop dishes, will most likely be off most people’s menus for the next two years.

It’s at this point we must acknowledge the effort of mana whenua. Without iwi and hapu such as Ngāti Hei, Ngāti Pāoa and Ngāti Manuhiri having the courage to boldly lay rāhui around the Hauraki Gulf to protect the remaining scallop beds, imagine how dire this report could have been. As a community an intervention has been staged, but it's not a solution. 

While we are incredibly proud to support these rāhui, setting boundaries risks making the issue worse. The commercial operators simply fish elsewhere within the management area, while continuing destructive scallop dredging.  A localized approach (without appropriate management) only leads to displacement.

In this instance, scallops are the ‘canary in the coalmine’. They indicate a much more substantial issue that requires systemic change. 

We want to see scallop dredging and bottom trawling banned from our inshore waters. Scraping life on the seafloor is unacceptable. We’ve teamed up with organisations to create the Hauraki Gulf Alliance, a campaign to ban mobile bottom-contact fishing methods from the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. 

The Alliance is a step towards a much bigger picture of implementing Rescue Fish, a holistic approach to fisheries management nationwide. Banning inshore trawling and dredging is one of many Rescue Fish principles. 

Sign our petition here for more fish in the water: https://rescuefish.co.nz/