Protect the Hauraki Gulf

The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is on the brink of ecological collapse. 

Overfishing, habitat loss, pollution, sedimentation, and the effects of poorly planned urban development have led to a 57 percent decline in key fish stocks, a 67 percent decline in seabirds, and a 97 percent decline in whales and dolphins in the Gulf. Scallop and crayfish populations are functionally extinct in some areas.

The creation of new marine protected areas in the Hauraki Gulf is essential to protecting and restoring its environment, as well as benefitting the communities and industries that rely on the Gulf for their livelihoods.

The Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Bill seeks to establish 2 marine reserves, 5 seafloor protection areas, and 12 high protection areas in the Hauraki Gulf, acknowledging customary rights within seafloor protection areas and high protection areas.

The Bill is the result of years of collaborative work between tangata whenua, environmental groups, commercial and recreational fishers and others involved in the SeaChange process that began in 2013. 

In June, the Environment Select Committee agreed unanimously the Bill should be taken forward with no substantive changes to the high protection areas.

Now, it is all at risk because the Government has taken the decision to amend the Bill to allow a type of fishing known as ring-netting to take place in the new ‘high protection areas’ – zones which had been explicitly designed to exclude both commercial and recreational fishing and provide a safe haven for marine life to recover.

Sign our open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon asking him to reverse this rash, last-minute decision.

Full Letter to the Prime Minister

Dear Prime Minister,

We urge you to rethink your decision to allow destructive commercial fishing to take place in new ‘high protection areas’ within the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana. 

The Hauraki Gulf is one of New Zealand’s most treasured places. It’s globally recognised for its unique wildlife, including whales, dolphins, seabirds, and many fish species — and is hugely significant to our country culturally and economically.

As you know, the Gulf is in trouble. Consecutive State of the Gulf reports illustrate a decades-long decline in its health and mauri. We’ve reached a tipping point, with marine species and habitats now on the brink of total collapse.

People from all walks of life — tangata whenua, recreational fishers, commercial fishers, conservationists and others — have spent more than a decade working together creating a plan to restore Tīkapa Moana for future generations.

In order to turn the tide on its decline, we must allow the Hauraki Gulf to recover and build resilience. The Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Bill would have helped to do this by creating 12 new ‘high protection areas’, where commercial and recreational fishing are not allowed.

Your recent unexpected decision to allow commercial fishing to take place in these areas is a betrayal of the many Aucklanders who are working so hard to protect this special place.

New Zealanders don’t want to see starving, sickly snapper, our dolphins and penguins ensnared in nets, and barren, rocky reefs overrun with kina barrens in the Hauraki Gulf. And we don’t want to see this beloved biodiversity hotspot on Auckland’s doorstep left to collapse.

Please Prime Minister, do the right thing and reverse this decision so we can ensure the health and resilience of our Blue Backyard now and for future generations.