Rāhui to protect pāua in Taranaki
A coastal Taranaki hapū has placed a seven-month rāhui on the gathering of shellfish along 12 kilometres of beaches after fearing over-harvesting was threatened to strip pāua beds bare.
The hapū of Orimupiko Marae put the rāhui, or cultural ban, in place after a run of very low tides earlier this month saw hundreds of people gathering pāua between Oakura and Opunake.
A sign at the end of Arawhata Rd, one of most popular pāua sites, states that ‘‘no shellfish is to be gathered from Waiwiri Bay, Arawhata, to Rahui Toe Toe from January 9 to July 31 to protect, preserve and regenerate the shellfish of this area.’’
Kaitiaki Jack Davey, from the hapū, said it was a necessary move to ‘‘save our kai moana’’.
‘‘We are getting people from out of Taranaki, out of their district, coming and taking it.’’
The rāhui means everyone is banned from taking shellfish, but as it is a customary requirement, it is not enforceable.
However, a rāhui put in place last year around Waiheke Island by Ngāti Pāoa did lead to Fisheries New Zealand closing the scallop, mussel, rock lobster and pāua fisheries for two years as of January 1.
Davey said he expected Māori and some Pākeha would respect the Taranaki hapu’s rāhui.
‘‘Many understand and will abide by it. Others don’t want to know.’’
Hapū members would be talking to people on the beaches to tell them about the rāhui and ask them not to gather shellfish there, he said.
If people ignored the rāhui, police and fisheries staff would be enforcing the size and number limits for pāua gathered, as usual.
Davey said the entire coast where there was public access was affected, and the restrictions were likely to move people to harvest at other spots.
He did not know if other hāpu would also place rāhui on their areas.
Pāua is a delicacy, and one can sell for $25, but it is illegal for amateur fishers to sell or trade their catch.
In Taranaki, people are permitted to gather up to 10 pāua of 85mm or larger per person per day.
Davey said the numbers gathering the delicacy had been steadily growing.
Usually, there would be only three or four cars parked by Arawhata Rd if local families were gathering pāua, but during the recent very low tides, up to 70 cars were seen.
‘‘They [local families] go down there and gather a feed and not every day of the week, only for a feed, within the regulations. They don’t take buckets and bagloads as some of these people do.
‘‘A helluva lot of it has been taken.’’
And many people were not using the traditional tools – a blunt, flat ended knife, to lift the pāua off the rocks, he said.
‘‘They’re taking the lot, small, large, and anything else living under there.’’
About 81 per cent of catches inspected by fisheries officers in Taranaki were compliant with the rules during extremely low tides between January 3 and 6.
During the four days, fisheries officers conducted 235 inspections and detected 44 rule breaches, Ministry for Primary Industries regional manager for fish compliance, Jason Howat said.
He said 17 infringement notices were issued for excess or undersize pāua and 27 written warnings were issued for minor breaches.
The ministry encourages anyone with information about suspected illegal fishing in the area to phone 0800 4 POACHER and report it.