Shellfish closure sought on western Coromandel

Image: Map of the proposed closure area

Ng?ti Tamater? Treaty Settlement Trust, on behalf of Ng?ti Tamater?, has requested a temporary two-year closure to the harvest of pipi, cockles, mussels, and oysters from Te Mata and Waipatukahu, west Coromandel.
Fisheries New Zealand invites submissions about the request from persons who have an interest in the effects of fishing in the area.
Locals say the shellfish stocks have declined in both size and number over the last 15 years and that they have observed large groups from Auckland gathering seafood from the area over an extended period.

The area has been the subject of closures, starting with a two-year temporary closure in 1998 which was extended several times until 2006 when a request was declined as it did not meet the criteria.

Area boundaries
The approximate area of the proposed temporary closure includes all those fisheries waters within the following lines:

• starting at a point on the mean high-water mark on the northern bank of the ?taki Creek mouth (at 36°57.743′S and 175°29.464′E); then
• proceeding in a straight line due west to a point one nautical mile offshore from the mean high-water mark (at 36°57.743′S and 175°28.205′E); then
• proceeding along a line in a generally southward direction, every point of which is one nautical from the mean high-water mark, to a point offshore (at 36°59.619′S and 175°28.857′E); then
• proceeding in a straight line due east to a point on the mean high-water mark on the southern bank of Diehard Stream Mouth (at 36°59.619′S and 175°30.198′E); and then
• proceeding in a generally northerly direction along the mean high-water mark to the starting point.