Source: Radio New Zealand
Great Barrier Island locals fear overfishing has decimated the kōura population. RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Those living on Aotea/Great Barrier Island fear that overfishing has decimated the kōura population.
Ngāti Rehua – Ngātiwai ki Aotea Trust Board and the Aotea/Great Barrier Local Board are wanting the government to back a plan to manage the population before it is too late.
Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Shane Jones banned rock lobster fishing from the east coast of Northland to the Hauraki Gulf on 1 April, 2026. That connected to an existing closure of the inner Hauraki Gulf on 1 April, 2025.
The former chairperson of Ngāti Rehua – Ngātiwai ki Aotea, Opo Ngawaka, had already noticed the impact on Great Barrier Island since then.
“The main issue is pressure put on Aotea at the moment with closures around in the inner [Hauraki] Gulf and that, and it’s forcing recreational and commercial fisheries out towards our way,” he said. “And I think we’ve struggled a little bit, we’ve struggled quite a lot, actually, with the cyclonic weather we’ve been having in four or five years in the past, which had an impact on our fisheries.”
Ngāti Rehua – Ngātiwai ki Aotea former chair, Opo Ngawaka. RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Glenn Edney is a member of the Tai Tū Moana Steering Group.
Tai Tū Moana is a conservation project by Ngāti Rehua – Ngātiwai ki Aotea and the Aotea Great Barrier Local Board.
“The pressure now on Aotea in particular has just increased dramatically because it’s pretty much the only place that particularly recreational fishers can go.”
Edney did not want the government’s ban to cover Great Barrier Island.
“I think it’s really important to understand that a lot of families out on the island are actually subsistence fishers, so they rely on the fishery for daily and weekly protein sources.”
Instead, he wanted the government to implement a set of local rules devised during a pilot project called Ahu Moana.
“Ahu Moana … was a vision of the marine spatial plan, whereby tangata whenua, along with the wider local community, would co-manage their local marine spaces.”
The rules include lowering the daily bag limit to two, a ban on daily bag limit accumulation, introducing a maximum size limit, having a closed mating season, and several recreational only areas.
“Hapu have been doing this for centuries – where they would restrict their fishing or they would have seasonal closures and manage their activities so that the fishery remained sustainable. So this is nothing new. What’s new about it is that now this is an opportunity for all of our local communities to work together and to be able to do their own monitoring, understand the situation in their local area.
“The reality is that local people are the experts when it comes to a local ecosystem.”
While recreational fisher Ben Chissell opposed the Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Act he welcomed the proposal.
“I’m all for it, you know, these locals know better than the people making the laws and if they’re noticing an issue, as we have seen them have big issues with over-harvesting and a lot of illegal activity, then yeah, I’m all for them doing that and trying to go about it their own way.”
Ngawaka hoped for the best.
“I don’t know whether that’s the answer or not. But at least you’ve got to try something, you know, and try something to help maintain that, you know, maintain the fisheries out here.”
Oceans and Fisheries under-secretary Jenny Marcroft. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The team behind Tai Tū Moana expected to meet with Oceans and Fisheries under-secretary Jenny Marcroft soon.
RNZ contacted Marcroft’s office for comment but did not get a response.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
