Scallops off the menu at festival

Five thousand scallop-lovers descend on Whitianga for its scallop festival each year, but with a potential ra¯ hui on the horizon, organisers have decided the delicacy is off the menu.

The Whitianga Scallop Festival – renamed The Whitianga Ocean Festival — will continue to feature New Zealand caught kaimoana cooked by renowned chefs, but no scallops will be in sight.

The decision comes after local iwi Nga¯ ti Hei announced it was calling on the Ministry for the Environment to impose an official ra¯ hui on scallop harvesting in eastern Coromandel waters after seeing a decline in numbers and a lack of action from government.

While no official decision has been made about the ban, organiser Nick Reader said it was ‘‘crunch time’’ .

‘‘It was a very difficult decision to remove scallops from the menu when it’s been the hero of the festival for 16 years . . . but this transition has been brewing for a while and in the end it was right thing to do,’’ Reader said.

The festival, which occurs in September, sources on average 700kg of scallops for the one-day event. Last year in preparation for the festival, Reader said it became clear things were looking ‘‘shaky’’ with that kind of number harder to obtain.

In December when Nga¯ ti Hei put a voluntary ra¯ hui in place over summer in O¯ pito Bay, that pushed the festival to look at reducing their scallop numbers by half.

‘‘After the first ra¯ hui we rebranded internally to the Scallop and Seafood Festival because we were going to transition to selling fewer scallops,’’ Reader said.

‘‘We discussed sourcing scallops elsewhere, but just about all scallops in New Zealand are sourced by dredging.

‘‘It just became apparent that it was the right thing to remove scallops completely.’’

While the festival showcases other kaimoana, around 70 per cent of its stallholders sold some sort of scallop dish each year.

Reader said this has meant they’ve had to make a few changes. However, the event will still have other favourites, such as New Zealand-caught seafood , stallholders and community groups, and entertainment from bands, buskers and seafood cooking classes.