The Environmental Defence Society has lodged a submission supporting Fisheries New Zealand’s proposals for stronger protections for Hauraki Gulf shellfish across the Auckland-Coromandel region.

EDS comments that: “Many of the species currently harvested are not monitored, but the information we do have points to declining populations of many species and the absence of large shellfish, especially within our cockle and pipi beds.”

EDS Policy Director Raewyn Peart says that, “Fisheries New Zealand’s review of shore-based shellfish harvesting in the Auckland Coromandel Area is an important opportunity to shift from a system that generally allows harvesting unless prohibited, to one that protects species unless harvesting can be shown to be sustainable.

“With more precautionary measures in place, we are hopeful that our shellfish species in the Gulf can bounce back,” stated Ms Peart.

Read EDS’s submission here.

More: Raewyn Peart, 021613379, raewyn@eds.org.nz