Letter to the Editor

8 Aug, 2022

Estuary a “no-take” zone?
The visit by the pod of orcas last month to Mangawhai Estuary was not only exciting to see but also reassuring that the water quality and balance of the estuary is in a good condition for the marine life using it.

With the recent and continuing explosion of Mangawhai’s population there is a very real danger that exploitation of the estuary’s resources by the increasing numbers of human hunter gatherers will upset this balance and affect the health of this delicate ecosystem.

All marine life in the estuary relies on a food chain to maintain its balance and removal of any part of this chain will detrimentally affect the balance of the whole estuary. Shellfish stock depletion and overfishing within the estuary will have major impacts on the health of the marine environment.

Maybe it is time for our community to consider making the estuary a “no-take” zone so that the delicate marine balance is not threatened by depletion of any of the resources that are contained in the estuary.

This will be a difficult concept for long-term estuary users to accept, but I think everyone would agree that the Mangawhai estuary is the main reason that the majority of us are residing here. There are many examples around the world where resources have been taken until there is nothing left and it is too late to do anything to remedy the situation.

If we want to continue to have the thrill of watching marine life such as stingrays and orcas frequent our estuary then I feel we should consider putting a stop to any taking of marine life from our estuary. There are many examples around the country where communities have instigated “no-take” zones to protect the health of their marine environment. I hope we can do the same before it is too late.

Ian Milestone
Mangawhai