Paua industry supports MPI ban

Monday, 21 November 2016, 4:19 pm
Press Release: Seafood New Zealand

Media Release

November 21, 2016 - Release from PauaMAC3 (Kaikoura) and PauaMAC7 (Marlborough).

Paua industry supports MPI ban

Paua organisations fully support the three month harvesting ban announced by the Ministry for Primary Industries today.

Seven days ago a serious earthquake struck the upper South Island and caused the inshore seabed to uplift by 2 to 3 metres along a 100km stretch of the Kaikoura and Marlborough coastline, spanning as far north as Cape Campbell.

This has exposed large areas of important paua habitat and lead to the loss of a very large numbers of adult and juvenile paua. It has also, and perhaps most seriously, damaged a great deal of the special habitat that paua larval settlement and juvenile growth takes place in.

In the new intertidal zone, the area between the new low tide and high tide mark, there are still a number of surviving adult paua, but the paua exposed permanently above the new high tide level have died off.

It is the paua in the new intertidal zone that will become the breeding stocks driving the future rebuild of these valuable and treasured fisheries.

Independent paua biologists, historical records from the south Kaikoura area and existing examples from the Chathams, Stewart Island and other parts of the New Zealand coast confirm that the intertidal zone is very much a natural part of the adult paua habitat. As does the famous traditional Maori saying “when the tide is out, the table is laid”.

This will apply to all sectors equally to give the best protection possible to the surviving paua and allow them a chance to adapt and slowly move to their optimal habitat.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake the paua industry in Marlborough and Kaikoura adopted a voluntary ban on commercial harvest of paua, but we were disappointed to see that some recreational harvesters took advantage of this natural disaster and continue to.

We understand MPI has already begun work on the research needed to inform the development of a rehabilitation plan for the paua fishery at Kaikoura and Marlborough. This will be a rigorous process involving Iwi, recreational, conservation and commercial sectors.

We commend MPI for its efforts to this point and offer all support to them in addressing this unprecedented ecological disaster.

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