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Zane Mirfin/Supplied
The scallop fishery on the Coromandel has now been completely shut down.
The under pressure Coromandel scallop fishery has been fully closed to commercial and recreational fishing to allow it to recover, the Government has announced.
A statement said the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Stuart Nash made the decision based on new survey information which showed the two open areas in the fishery could no longer sustain harvesting.
Most of the Coromandel and all of the Northland scallop fisheries were closed in 2021 due to sustainability concerns.
KELLY HODEL/STUFF
Ōpito Bay on the Coromandel is a special place, with a noticeable drop in scallop numbers, a voluntary ban on taking scallops is in place to protect the resource for future generations (video first published in 2021).
Then, in December last year, new information led to a temporary emergency closure of the two remaining open areas to the north of the Coromandel Peninsula, one around Little Barrier Island and the other in Colville channel.
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“This new 2023 sustainability closure will see those areas remain closed,” said Fisheries New Zealand’s director of fisheries management Emma Taylor.
“The use of emergency measures to close a fishery is rare, and they are not used lightly.”
The December closures in the Coromandel came after new information demonstrated a drastic decline in the population.
They followed the Ministry of Primary Industries closing a tranche of the Coromandel’s east coast scallop fishery in September 2021 in conjunction with Mercury Bay iwi Ngāti Hei.
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