We would love to have scallops on 
our plates as much as anyone. But 
every single scallop counts. We don't 
want to rush recovery. It's important 
to leave more scallops in the water 
while the wider fishery is trying to 
recover from decades of dredging.
Eastern Coromandel communities, 
the Waikato Regional Council and 
Ngāti Hei have been adamant that 
dredging must be replaced with 
selective, low-impact harvesting 
techniques like hand-gathering.
We’re pleased to see ACT’s new 
fisheries policy commit to removing 
recreational and commercial 
scallop dredging. This joins similar 
commitments from the Greens 
and Opportunity Party to phase 
out destructive fishing methods.
Neither Minister Shane Jones 
nor Fisheries NZ address the 
elephant in the room - the outdated 
Quota Management System that 
drove the depletion of scallops.  
LegaSea says now is the prime 
opportunity to rethink how we 
can better manage scallops in the 
future. Firstly, we must restore the 
scallop beds to an abundant level.
COMMUNITIES TAKING ACTION 
TO ADDRESS DEPLETION.
When officials won’t act, communities 
have stepped up. This year alone, 
more than 10 applications have 
Feature
40  FISHING IN GODZONE MAGAZINE

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