All scallop fisheries in Northland - and most across the Coromandel and the Hauraki Gulf - will close from this Friday in a bid to help restore depleted stocks.
Fisheries Minister David Parker announced the closure on Tuesday as part of the twice-yearly review of a selection of fish stocks to support their sustainability.
The closure aims to replenish scallop populations which have rapidly declined in these areas.
Parker said scientific surveys of scallop numbers in the Northland, Hauraki Gulf and Coromandel fisheries had confirmed iwi and community concerns that scallop beds in the region were in “bad shape”.
“I share their concerns. The results of the 2021 biomass survey are alarming,” he said.
Many fishers in these areas have reported it is becoming harder to find scallops.
Parker said a number of factors were contributing to the continued decline in scallop numbers including sedimentation, dredging and the use of GPS technology to locate and exploit scallop beds.
Recreational and commercial scallop fishing in the Northland fishery will be fully closed, while a partial closure has been put down for the Hauraki Gulf and Coromandel fisheries.
Parker said two defined areas around Te Hauturu o Toi/Little Barrier Island and near the Colville Channel will remain open to “provide for a small level of utilisation.”
But, an area around Little Barrier Island is already covered by a rāhui which was laid by Ngati Manuhiri on Waitangi Day.
It's chief executive Nicola MacDonald said leaving those beds out of the closure isn't acceptable.
"We cannot allow the continued depletion of our taonga species for commercial gain. This is not something that we will accept in our rohe moana.
"We call on the Minister to fully support the 186a application submitted by Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust to close the tipa [scallop] fisheries.“
MacDonald told 1News on Monday, ahead of the decision, that tipa (scallops) were at a state that they were “almost functionally extinct".
"If we keep taking, they're gone."
The closures come into effect from April 1.
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