Bottom trawling, scallop dredging and Danish seining are destructive fishing methods that have been taking place in the Hauraki Gulf for decades.
Bottom trawling is having a devastating impact on marine life.
The Hauraki Gulf ecosystem is under enormous pressure and is in a far worse state now than it was 20 years ago, when the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park was established.
There are widespread kina barrens, significant benthic habitat loss, overfishing is occurring, tarakihi, and bait fish are in trouble, rock lobster have been defined as functionally extinct due to commercial overfishing, and many shellfish species have collapsed.
Now is the time to remove these fishing practices in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park once and for all.
We can effect change by putting enormous pressure on the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries to remove trawling and dredging from the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.
Join us in telling the Government that New Zealanders do not want to see any more bottom trawling, scallop dredging or Danish Seining in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park
© Darryl Torckler/WWF
Urgent action is needed
The Hauraki Gulf Fisheries Plan aimed at “revitalising” the ailing park was recently out for public consultation (submissions closed 3 March 2023).
The draft plan will allow these destructive techniques to continue indefinitely. It is an attempt to avoid doing anything that would change the way commercial fishing operates.
The Government needs to step up and be bold, ban trawling and dredging from the entire Marine Park.
These mobile bottom contact fishing methods drag fishing gear across the seafloor, destroying valuable benthic habitats in the process. These methods are also indiscriminate and catch large amounts of untargeted sealife and bycatch.
The effects of these harmful fishing methods are long-lasting and it takes years for seafloor area to recover. They need to end.
Together, we can save the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park