I believe there were huge natural beds of mussels originally in the area historically so it can’t be that. But mussel farms aren’t the environmental win win they have been portrayed. If in the wrong place where a lot are they destroy sandy bay environments with piles of dead shells covering the sea floor, sand goes and muddy reefs appear. Attracts different sea life and stops natural sand flow. Good for snapper bad for shellfish like scallops pipis etc and gurnard.

Asked NZSFC why they object to such a farm, not the best response especially where they say "NO" to attending hearing or the opportunity to speak.

The proposed area seems to be on the edge of a high use recreational area.

Not sure I understand the map there Croc

It's a heat map of recreational fishing activity, taken from aerial overflight surveys.

Basically hot (red/orange) areas show more activity.

Taken from: https://seachange.org.nz/assets/Sea-Change/SWG/Recreational-Fisheries-in-the-Hauraki-Gulf-Bruce-Hartill-NIWA.pdfhttps://seachange.org.nz/assets/Sea-Change/SWG/Recreational-Fisheries-in-the-Hauraki-Gulf-Bruce-Hartill-NIWA.pdf

Croc that map is very interesting. Is there any for other areas around nz also?thanks for sharing that. Interesting indeed. 

Reel Deal wrote: Croc that map is very interesting. Is there any for other areas around nz also?thanks for sharing that. Interesting indeed.

Yep a few other areas are covered. It's getting pretty old though. Hauraki Gulf is done fairly regularly but the map is from 2008 now. 

snapperdave wrote: https://webapp.navionics.com/#boating@9&key=h~j%60Fyqvm%60%40 I think the new farm is shown here on Navionics. Haven't fished there, but I've seen a few boats in there when coming back from the other side.