More paua, fewer mussels survey finds
There’s plenty of paua and ketes of kina to be had in North Taranaki as shellfish numbers rise.
A survey conducted in March by Waitara Alive and Otaraua hapu sought to calculate the health of Waitara’s reefs in order to compile a comprehensive record of kaimoana (seafood) in the area.
‘‘The last proper survey was in 2001 so any records were a bit outdated,’’ Waitara Alive spokesperson Vicky Dombroski said.
‘‘We’ve seen bolstered paua and kina numbers while pupu or cat’s eyes have virtually disappeared.’’
The number of mussels is also declining.
Dombroski said this was an opportune time to conduct a survey as Waitara’s sewage was no longer pumped out to sea and hadn’t been since 2014.
‘‘It’s only been two years but we’re seeing all good signs that the reefs are in good health or improving health,’’ she said.
The Waitara River’s environmental record came under fire from the Green Party earlier this year after several raw sewage discharges offshore of the river mouth sparked health concerns over gathering seafood from the area.
However, marine ecologist at the Taranaki Regional Council Emily Roberts said mussels thrived in areas where sewage dis- charges and debris were a common occurrence.
‘‘Their decline around Waitara is a possible sign that river health is improving in the area,’’ she said.
As for bolstered paua and kina numbers in the area Roberts said it could be a number of reasons.
‘‘One thing to note is that the majority of paua we were finding were undersized [smaller than 85 millimetres end to end],’’ she said.
‘‘They can start to migrate deeper when there’s a lot of silt in the environment.’’
Roberts said one thing recreational shellfish gatherers could do to improve marine health was to turn rocks back over once they’d looked under them for paua or kina.
‘‘Algae that live on the top depend on light while organisms living under the rock are there to hide from predators,’’ she said.
In order to count the numbers of different species along Waitara’s coast teams of volunteers plotted sections of reef in March and headed out to manually count individual paua, kina, pupu crab and other weed and shellfish.
However, project coordinator of Otaraua hapu Robyn MartinKemp said one of the most interesting findings was that traditional Maori tikanga - methods - of collecting seafood had scientific backing.
‘‘For example not eating any kaimoana while still gathering is an important Maori protocol that’s been observed for many years,’’ she said. ‘‘But scientifically the shellfish actually send off like a distress beacon when eaten that scares off other marine life.’’
Martin-Kemp said it was interesting to see cultural protocols like tikanga had a wider purpose in terms of preserving the ecology of the reef.
‘‘That’s also a big part of what we’re wanting to share with the community, we’re wanting them to be informed so they can be a part of helping maintain the reef,’’ she said.
In order to showcase their findings a pop-up information centre is open on Waitara’s West Quay from 10am to 3pm until November 4 for anyone to visit for free.